Social care and housing support workers at the Scottish charity Blue Triangle Housing Association walked out on 1 April in response to a “pitiful” pay offer.
Union members across 36 services and 12 local authorities have said their wages fail to reflect the skill, responsibility and emotional demands of their roles, according to Unison.
The most recent pay offer made to staff was 2 per cent for 2024/25 and 1 per cent in 2025/26, with employees “overwhelmingly” voting to strike in October.
Unison said carers in Scotland were “earning only marginally above the minimum, despite years of promises from the Scottish government on fair pay”.
Jennifer McCarey, social care lead at Unison Scotland, said care workers are “totally undervalued” and “being pushed to breaking point for pitiful wages”.
McCarey said: “This strike sends a clear message that workers won’t be undervalued any longer. Industrial action is always a last resort, but care workers feel they’ve no alternative after years of below-inflation pay offers.
“The Scottish government must work with unions and employers to deliver the fair pay Scotland’s care workers have been promised and deserve.”
Gary Meek, chief executive of Blue Triangle Housing Association, said the charity agrees that staff deserve a wage that reflects their work, and had appealed to the Scottish government “to reconsider their position on social care funding.”
Meek said: “The social care sector continues to face underfunding, which means employers like Blue Triangle often face a lack of uplift from council contracts, and must absorb the cost.
“This is not sustainable in the current economy, and alongside our colleagues at Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland, we have called on the government to reconsider how social care is funded.”
Meek said economic pressures including the rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions had resulted in providers having to find an extra £270,000 for staffing costs “during a time when council budgets are already being reduced and contracts are becoming more at risk”.
The Scottish government announced last month a new voluntary social care bargaining body that will “help improve pay and conditions for more than 110,000 workers”.
The body will begin negotiating this year with deals implemented from 2027/28, the government said.
Tom Arthur, social care minister for Scotland, said: “Fairer working conditions are essential to making social care the attractive and rewarding career which it should be.
“I thank trade unions and provider representatives for their positive engagement on this issue and look forward to close cooperation with them as we deliver sectoral bargaining.”