TEACHERS have overwhelmingly rejected a controversial three per cent pay deal bringing strike action in the nation’s schools a step closer.
Members of three of Scotland’s teaching unions have voted against the current offer from the Scottish Government and councils.
READ MORE: Strikes loom as teachers urged to reject "derisory" pay offer
Some 97 per cent of members of both the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association rejected the deal after record response rates.
And more than half the membership of the NASUWT said they would be prepared to take strike action in pursuit of a better deal.
Teaching unions are currently fighting for a ten per cent increase to rectify the impact of a decade of austerity.
READ MORE: Special school closes after damning inspection and financial problems
However, councils and ministers argue the offer is the best and most affordable in the current economic climate.
In addition to the three per cent the deal also funds a restructuring of the pay scale which means most teachers would see their pay increase by between five per cent and 11 per cent.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, described the near unanimous rejection of the pay offer as a “landmark result”.
He said: “It is one of the strongest rejections of an offer in EIS history and one which is indicative of the current mood of Scotland’s teachers.
“They are increasingly agitated on pay, but angry also at excessive workload, mainstreaming on the cheap, and austerity driven cuts to resources.”
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the SSTA, said both the government and councils had “underestimated” teachers.
He said: “It is time for the government and councils to return to the negotiating table, treat teachers with respect and seek a meaningful settlement.
“They must be prepared to negotiate to avoid an escalation of the dispute and the potential for industrial action.”
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, added: “Our members are clearly angry and rightly so. Their response shows the divisive nature of this pay offer.”
However, Gail Macgregor, resources spokeswoman for council umbrella body Cosla, said teachers were highly valued, but local authorities were hamstrung by years of austerity in public finances.
She said: “The trade unions claim for a 10 per cent increase in one year cannot be met within the resources we currently have available and we have said that consistently throughout the pay negotiations.
“With support from our partners in the Scottish Government we have packaged an offer for teachers which includes a three per cent pay award and further measures to address recruitment and retention issues.
“Plans to organise a further ballot for strike action would disrupt schools and the education of children and young people. This is both unnecessary and unwarranted and will not result in an unaffordable 10 per cent pay increase.”
Officials will now use the vote to press for an improved offer with formal ballots on industrial action likely in January if they fail.
John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said the deal was the best in the UK in 2018/19.
He said: "It is disappointing that teachers have rejected what I believe was a strong and fair offer.
“All teachers on the main grade scale were offered at least a five per cent annual increase, with some receiving up to 11 per cent conjunction with their annual progression.
“I am pleased there will be further talks and we will engage positively with the unions and with Cosla to seek to strike a pay deal.”
The EIS said over 98 per cent of members rejected the offer with turnout more than 74 per cent of its 48,000 members.
Ballots were issued to 6,487 members of the SSTA with 73 per cent responding and 97 per cent of these voting against the offer.
An opinion survey of teachers from the NASUWT union found 54 per cent of the 1,000 members who responded were willing to take industrial action with 48 per cent blaming the Scottish Government.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel