COUNCILLORS and Cordia bosses have been urged to get round the table in a bid to end a dispute with school janitors.

Yesterday marked the start of five days of industrial action by dozens of jannies from primary schools across Glasgow.

The striking staff are all members of trade union Unison and are employed by Cordia, a Glasgow City Council arms length organisation.

They argue their colleagues in other parts of the company receive additional pay for duties involving physical demand, working outdoors or in unpleasant conditions of up to £1000 a year.

SNP Councillor Malcolm Balfour, who previously wrote to council leader Frank McAveety regarding the striking staff situation, has now called for Cordia board members to negotiate.

He said: "There are five elected members on the board of Cordia.

"The onus is on them to insist that the board get back round the table. My own colleague councillor Ken Andrew has agreed to get round the table with myself and union management to get their take on it, and see how we can move forward.

"The extended grievance procedure clearly hasn't worked.

"It's about time for the sake of the kids to get back round the table and put an end to this."

Janitors yesterday held a rally outside the City Chambers, attended by at least 100 staff and union officials, and have vowed to continue the action until their dispute is resolved.

Scott Donohoe, Unison Glasgow deputy branch secretary said: " The [members] obviously want the council and Cordia to sit round the negotiating table and get it sorted out.

"It is a bit disappointing, we want to get this settled for everyone's benefit."

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the local authority would "continue to work with Cordia to ensure that our schools and nurseries will be open for business as usual."

She added: "All Breakfast Clubs and After School Clubs operated as normal today and this should continue during the five day industrial action.

“However, parents and carers need to be aware that this is subject to change at short notice depending of local arrangements and circumstances."

A spokesman for Cordia said: "Cordia has exhausted each of the stages of an extensive formal grievance process with its janitorial staff.

"Around one third of the overall janitor workforce is participating in industrial action this week.

"The organisation is working closely with Glasgow City Council Education Services to ensure there is minimal disruption at affected schools.

"While pupil welfare is of paramount importance to Cordia employees based in schools, any safety related issues such as fire precautions, are always the responsibility of the head teacher and their staff who will continue to carry out full risk assessments throughout the duration of strike action.

"It must also be noted that allegations circulating that the organisation is spending £3000 per day to cover duties are absurd.

"Cordia is utilising appropriately trained employees to carry out janitorial tasks and all staff members contributing to contingency arrangements are paid the normal janitorial rate for any hours they work out of their working patterns."