A BID by local authority employers to bypass unions and take a teachers' pay offer directly to schools is revealed in a letter leaked to The Herald.
It was greeted with fury by unions, who accused the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities of returning industrial relations to the darkest days of Thatcherism.
The memo, sent to Scotland's 32 education directors four days before management and unions met to discuss the offer, claimed the move was necessary ''to avoid any misinterpretation or misrepresentation from the teachers' side''.
Sources were interpreting it as a bid to destroy the Scottish Joint Negotiating Committee - the body, comprising unions and employers, established 15 years ago to agree teachers' wages and conditions.
Others claimed it was an ill-disguised bid by Elizabeth Maginnis, convener of the SJNC management side, to bolster her own political ambitions.
Ms Maginnis last night expressed surprise at the ''reaction that a proper management technique appeared to have provoked''.
Unions rejected a 2.7% pay offer following a three-hour meeting of the SJNC on Tuesday. The deal was laced with a promise of further negotiations following the outcome of the Millennium Review, which is due to produce its findings next month.
The letter, signed by Cosla personnel strategy head Dan Brown, said: ''It is recognised that the information about the negotiations on Tuesday, May 5, needs to be in schools as quickly as possible so that individual teachers are aware of what is on offer/or agreed to avoid any misinterpretation or misrepresentation from the teachers' side.
''To that effect, it is intended to fax you on early Tuesday afternoon details of these negotiations which you are asked to send to all schools in your authority as a matter of priority.''
The fax - also obtained by The Herald - urged directors to spin the management side's case and to stress that the offer was an improvement on that accepted by teachers in England and Wales, a point disputed by unions.
The 80-strong executive council of the country's biggest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, yesterday voted to reject the offer.
General secretary Ronnie Smith said: ''Teachers have responded angrily to the Cosla letter as soon as they have had sight of it.
''If Cosla is trying to mount a propaganda war over teachers' pay, it is going about it in an extraordinarily cack-handed manner.
''They have succeeded only in fuelling the fire of teachers' anger.''
David Eaglesham, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said: ''The last time these kind of tactics were seen was at fortress Wapping. It is reminiscent of the days of Murdoch talking to workers because unions can't be trusted to speak directly to their members.
''The letter was written on May 1, four days before we even had a sniff of an offer - this is clearly a pre-emptive strike which presumes that the outcome of the meeting would not be positive.''
Tino Ferri, executive member of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, described the contents of the letter as ''inappropriate, ill-advised and injudicious''.
He added: ''They are going to inflame the atmosphere for the next stage of the negotiations. They indicate that there's no respect on the management side.
''I can't imagine this letter went out without first being approved by the convener of the management side. It has Elizabeth Maginnis' fingerprints all over it and, as we all know, she has her own political agenda.
''This will give a high profile launch to any campaign she might have for a Scottish parliamentary seat nomination.''
Ms Maginnis said: ''The management side properly wanted to make sure that the offer which was tabled on Tuesday and which we knew would have its controversial moments should be fully understood by all our employees.
''For that reason it was agreed that directors of education would be encouraged to make sure that all schools had a copy of the management side's offer which would be displayed for the interest of any individual teacher.''
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