Scottish teachers to strike for sixteen consecutive days

Thousands of teachers took to the picket lines on Thursday on the first day of national strike action over pay in almost 40 years. 

All of the union's primary teachers will walk out again on 10 January, and secondary staff on 11 January. 

The new additional dates are local rather than national, with teachers in no more than two councils a day downing tools.

The union has asked for a 10 per cent pay rise, but ministers and council leaders have offered around half of that.

A last-minute offer on Tuesday would have seen most teachers' salaries increase by either £1,926 or 5%.

The Government and COSLA claimed the new deal was more "progressive" than previous offers as it targetted those on the lowest salaries, giving them a pay hike equivalent to 6.85%.

That was disputed by EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley.

Speaking on Friday after a meeting of the union's council, she said her members had "been greatly angered by the actions of the Scottish Government and COSLA who – after three months of delay – came back earlier this week with the same 5% pay offer that our members had already rejected overwhelmingly."

She added: "Yesterday’s strike action was a clear message, Scotland’s teachers are not going to be fooled by spin from COSLA and the Scottish Government, and we are determined to make a strong stand until we receive a substantially improved fair pay settlement for all teachers.”

Ms Bradley also criticised "the behaviour of the Scottish Government and COSLA over the way that the offer was presented".

She said: "Having dragged the process out for three months, they waited until 30 minutes before the EIS was due to meet to consider the revised proposal, to actually present their reheated 5% offer.

"They then released it to the press, with all their accompanying spin, before the EIS Salaries Committee had even had a chance to discuss the offer.

"In these bad-faith actions, the Scottish Government and COSLA have displayed little respect for the agreed negotiating process, and even less respect for Scotland’s hard-working teachers.”

Ms Bradley added: "We have been forced into the escalation of this action by the lack of willingness to negotiate properly and to pay teachers properly, by a government that says it wished to be judged on its record on education.

"The judgement of Scotland’s teachers on the matter of pay is clear, with the first programme of national strike action that we have engaged in for four decades.

"It is now for the Scottish Government and COSLA to resolve this dispute, and prevent further strike action, by coming back to the negotiating table with a substantially improved pay offer for all of Scotland’s teaching professionals.”

Councillor Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson said she was disappointed that the strikes were going ahead.

"In an effort to prevent strikes happening, on Tuesday afternoon we as employers made a revised fourth offer to our trade union colleagues, that did include additional money.  

"It was a fair and affordable offer which recognises the cost-of-living crisis as the priority by focusing on higher increases for staff on lower pay points.

"This means 6.85% for probationers, as well as between 5.71% and 5.1% for those on the lower to middle parts of the pay scale who will also receive their annual increment.

"The offer we have made is in line with the offers made to all other parts of the public sector, including the wider local government workforce.

"Teachers are a core part of that workforce and are supported in their roles by other council employees who help keep schools open and clean.

"It was an offer that ensured no additional pressure is placed on teachers themselves, as well as any other parts of our hardworking workforce and the essential services they deliver, and importantly it protects the best interests of children and young people. 

"Teachers in Scotland are already paid well above their counterparts in England and Wales, as made clear by UK Government figures, and indeed many of their colleagues in local government. 

"The response of our trade union partners is disappointing given the financial challenges facing everybody, but we remain open to having open and honest conversations about how we can reach a viable and realistic settlement that protects the best interests of teachers, children and young people and our wider communities.”

Scottish Labour education spokesperson Michael Marra called on the First Minister to intervene in negotiations. He said: “This announcement was inevitable as soon as last week’s offer was rejected so emphatically.

“That offer had sat on the Cabinet Secretary’s desk for weeks and was only signed off with hours to go before the first all-out teachers strike in 40 years.

“The Scottish Government has badly mishandled the most critical round of public pay negotiations in decades.

"Money should have been in the budget for public sector pay deals at the start of the budget year. Instead, we now have a crisis that is escalating fast.

“A deal must be struck to avoid these strikes taking place. The First Minister must personally come to negotiating table to get a deal done where the government has failed to dreadfully so far.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the government has pushed teachers to the edge. 

He said: “Scottish pupils have faced enormous disruption and upheaval to their education as a result of the pandemic. The last thing they need is more of that because of strikes, but teachers can only be pushed so far.  

“Outside Parliament yesterday, I spoke with teachers who have seen classroom support plummet after years of neglect by the SNP. They go above and beyond, while the Education Secretary barely lifts a finger.

“Education will never be a priority for the SNP, but I want teachers to know that Scottish Liberal Democrats are on their side.”  

Stephen Kerr, the Scottish Conservative education spokesman described the announcement as "a hammer blow to pupils and parents."

He added: “The blame must lie with the SNP Government, which has let this situation fester for months – and must now pull out all the stops to prevent this industrial action going ahead.

"After the interruptions of the pandemic, this disruption would be devastating for our youngsters.

“Shirley-Anne Somerville has been asleep at the wheel. She dithered and delayed for two months before finally making another pay offer earlier this week, which was then rejected within an hour.

“The Education Secretary has shown that she lacks the leadership required to resolve disputes satisfactorily.

“The SNP’s dereliction of duty gives the lie to their claim that education is a priority. They didn’t engage with the teaching unions despite having known this crisis was coming.

"This is a shocking failure that threatens to have damaging consequences for pupils and cause enormous inconvenience for parents.”