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Scotland’s Chancellor has said there is “simply no more money” to fund pay deals for local authority workers amid strikes that have forced school closures in John Swinney’s constituency.

Union Unison has announced moves to target the First Minister’s seat over the next two weeks after its members, who work in non-teaching roles in schools, rejected a pay offer from local authority Cosla.

The agreement included a pay rise of 67p an hour or 3.6%, whichever was higher, and was accepted by the GMB and Unite, with council leaders voting in favor of a pay rise for staff.

Finance Minister Shona Robison said she takes the strike “incredibly seriously” because of the impact it has on parents and children, but said the strike is “not in anyone’s best interests”.

She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I would certainly encourage continued dialogue between Cosla and Unison.

“A solution must be found, but it cannot be a solution based on more money this year, because there is simply no more money this year.

“So the decision, I think, is really based on next year and beyond and the possibility of multi-year agreements between local governments and their unions.

“But I must be clear: the result of this strike and all the upheaval will not be more money, because there simply isn’t any.”

Ms Robison said “difficult decisions” needed to be made to provide the money that was already on the table.

She said: “I went to parliament to set out the difficult decisions we had to make to make sure we could support this agreement to pay back the £78 million we have provided. Local authorities have also worked hard to provide resources.”

A statement published on the Perth and Kinross Council website said all primary schools, nurseries, critical care facilities and two secondary schools will be closed on Monday.

Stuart Hope, Unison branch secretary for Perth and Kinross, said closing schools was a “very difficult decision” but members felt they had had enough.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: “Over the next couple of weeks our members will be saying they feel undervalued and underpaid.”

He added: “They deserve better terms. They deserve better pay and to be valued more by the Scottish Government.”

He also warned that the strike could spread to all Scottish councils if a resolution was not reached.

“We have a further 17 seats across Scotland and preparations are underway for a full member vote,” he said.

“So every council worker, local government worker and Unison member across Scotland would vote to strike.

“If the vote is successful, we can expect industrial action and industrial action in every area of ​​every council in Scotland.”

He said that once the current two weeks of strikes are over, the union will decide on next steps.

Perth and Kinross Council was unable to carry out risk assessments of primary schools and nurseries due to the October holidays, meaning facilities could not reopen immediately.

The council said schools could reopen later this week, but the situation is likely to remain “fluid” for the duration of the action and “may change for individual schools on a day-to-day basis”.

It said distance learning would be provided while schools were closed to students as teachers were not taking part in the strike.

The First Minister previously described the attack on his seat as “unacceptable” and said there was “no justification” for it.

He added that the Scottish Government no longer had money they could hand over to local authorities to fund a better deal.

A Cosla spokesman said: “We are disappointed that Unison has taken industrial action aimed at children and young people, including the most vulnerable people with special needs.

“The industrial action is not in anyone’s best interests and we call on Unison to reconsider our strong offer, which would mean more than half of our workers receiving a rise of 4.27% or higher.

“The wage award is in line with the collective requests of Unison and our two other unions as set out in their joint letter dated 31 July 2024. It has been accepted by both GMB and Unite.

“Council leaders recently agreed that the pay rise should be implemented to enable staff to receive pay rises and back pay without further delay.”

She said Khosla remained “fully committed” to the negotiation process with all three unions and was seeking formal meetings “to understand Unison’s commitment to an agreed settlement within the available funding package”.