A union last night warned of strike chaos hitting Scotland’s biggest social work department from next week in a row about pay and job regrading involving 600 social care workers.

{mosimage}They will begin an indefinite work to rule from Monday after a ballot returned 97% of workers in support.

Social work staff and unions say a strike is inevitable because they claim David Comley, Glasgow council’s director of social work, who is about to leave his £110,000-plus-a-year post, has threatened that anyone refusing tasks will be sent home, in breach of contract.

Last night union officials warned if anybody was suspended for a breach of contract, staff would walk out.

{mosimage}According to Unison, the public services union, the city council’s workforce pay and benefits review has cut at least £1000 off social care workers’ pay with some staff losing £5000.

The average social care worker, who would assess and support care packages, currently gets paid between £18,000 to £25,000. If care workers strike, union leaders believe the vast majority of the 5000 people who work in Glasgow City Council’s social work department will support their action and will not cross any picket line.

SCOTLAND is trailing near the bottom of an international league table measuring the quality of life for young people, with one of the worst records on poverty and teenage pregnancy, a damning report said today.