THE threat of a national teachers' strike was averted yesterday after unions agreed to accept a no-strings 3% deal. The increase, back-dated to April 1, will mean an extra #630-a-year for the average teacher.
Local authority employers also promised to start a long-term review of teachers' salary levels and schools' management structure in the autumn, following the outcome of the Millennium Review, as a way of retaining dedicated teachers in the classroom. The review is expected to conclude on December 31.
The deal was thrashed out at a two-hour meeting of the Scottish Joint Negotiating Committee in Edinburgh. It followed a similar meeting a fortnight ago when a 2.7% bid linked to conditions of service was rejected. Teaching unions originally tabled a bid of 4.7%.
The country's biggest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, said the deal was the best teachers could expect in the current climate.
However, it leaves them further behind their counterparts south of the Border, who accepted a staggered settlement starting at 2.6%, but rising to 3.8% by the end of the year. The increase also falls below increases in the cost of living.
EIS general secretary Ronnie Smith said: ''While I believe that this is, in the short term, the best deal available in very difficult circumstances, I am in no doubt that if there is no agreement soon on a fair level of pay which properly acknowledges the value of the work done by teachers, that discontent could very quickly turn to anger and resentment.''
The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, which represents one in three secondary teachers, said it wanted to ensure the rise was included in teachers' June salaries.
The Millennium Review, which is due to produce its findings next month, is likely to recommend introducing local flexibility into what councils see as the rigid structures perpetuated by the SJNC.
SJNC management side convener Elizabeth Maginnis accepted that the timetable was tight for introducing what would be major changes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article