24-hour strike starts in Scotland

GLASGOW, Scotland, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Striking civil servants in Scotland walked off their jobs Wednesday, effectively closing schools and pools and halting burials for the day, sources said.

About 200,000 members of Unison, Unite and GMB unions are staging a 24-hour strike to protest a 2.5-percent pay raise offer considered to be, effectively, a cut in pay as it runs below the inflation rate, The Scotsman reported.

Unite regional officer for Edinburgh and Glasgow Jimmy Farrelly said the government should step in "to stop placing the burden of inflation on the lowest paid workers by making the necessary funds available."

But, Finance Secretary John Swinney said the dispute was between Scottish councils and their employees.

Museums, libraries, day-care centers and some ferry services were closed, the report said.

The Public and Commercial Services union also planned to strike Wednesday, the newspaper said, in protest of a 2 percent wage increase, which amounted to a raise of about $7.81 per week.