UNISON is supporting a charity offering free hot lunches to primary school kids and their carers affected by the industrial action.
YMCA Tayside welcomed affected primary kids to its centre on Perth’s Atholl Street yesterday lunchtime and has pledged to continue offering hot food for as long as the strike action continues in Perth and Kinross.
Trade union UNISON – whose members have taken industrial action in Perth and Kinross schools over a national pay deal – has agreed to cover the costs for the lunches provided.
After hearing of the strikes, the charity wanted to do what it could to help families affected.
Matthew Malloch of YMCA Tayside said: “We were really aware that what people need is childcare across the span of the whole school day but that’s not feasible for us so we figured that what we could do is food.”
P1-P4 children must be accompanied by a grown-up at all times and P5-P7 children need parental consent. Hot food will be served up from 1-2pm each day of the strike.
After around 250 shares of its post on Facebook page, YMCA Tayside was unsure how many kids to expect yesterday. Staff were at the ready with hot dogs and chips for the children who came through the centre’s doors.
Speaking ahead of yesterday lunchtime Matthew said: “You never know how well these things will translate into attendance. Between our post and UNISON’s post about it on Facebook we’ve had about 250 people sharing so we’re bracing for quite a lot but it could still be about four.
And after hearing about the “brilliant initiative” UNISON got in touch with YMCA Tayside to offer their financial support.
UNISON Perth and Kinross branch secretary Stuart Hope said: “We contacted them last week when we heard about the brilliant initiative. We’ve had a discussion with them about making a donation to cover the costs of that.
“We thought it was absolutely fantastic they were doing it so we reached out and said we would be more than willing to cover the cost of it.”
The strikes – which began on Monday, October 21 – are taking place in a targeted manner across first minister John Swinney’s Perthshire North constituency as well as right across the whole of Perth and Kinross.
Today saw the closure of all Perth and Kinross primary schools, early learning and childcare (ELC) centres, Intensive Support Provision (ISP) and Perth’s Fairview School due to a national pay dispute. All secondary schools – except St John’s Academy in Perth and the Community School of Auchterarder – were open but all secondary ISP provision was closed. Navigate secondary support teaching was and will be open throughout the industrial action.
The action could potentially last a fortnight.