CONTINGENCY plans are in place if Scotland’s teachers strike over the exam period, the First Minister has said.
Nicola Sturgeon said she would be keen to reach an agreement before then, but unions have hit out at the lack of willingness from the Scottish Government.
Today marks the final day of the first round of rolling strikes from EIS, with schools in Inverclyde and Shetland closed.
More action is scheduled later this month and in March and could carry on when pupils are sitting their exams between April and June.
If that does happen it would be the third time in the last four years that the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher diet has been disrupted.
READ MORE: Teachers strike Scotland: Inverclyde final walkout in rolling campaign
On Sunday, Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville called on the unions to suspend strikes ahead of the exam period to ensure there is no disruption.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the government and councils needed to "bring resource to the table that can be configured within a settlement that could be credibly considered by our members.”
“That’s the way that we avoid any further disruption to education, and the risk of the exam diet being at all affected by the action that our members are being forced to take,” she told the PA.
Speaking from a picket line in Greenock, Ms Bradley added: “The mandate we have lasts until the middle of May, we will be looking to renew that mandate should we need to, but we fully intend that if we don’t have a resolution by the time the next round of strike action comes round at the end of this month, or beyond that on into March through to April, we will use it, we will use the mandate, we have to, that’s what the democratic decision-making of the union has charged us to do so we will do that.”
The teachers’ unions are looking for a 10 per cent pay rise, but so far the offer from the Scottish Government and councils is worth around 5% for most, and 6.85% for those on the lowest wage.
READ MORE: EIS announce 22 more days of school strike action
Speaking during a press conference at St Andrew’s House, Ms Sturgeon insisted her government was doing everything in its power to avoid the need for contingency plans.
“I hope we can reach a settlement here. And there is certainly a very strong willingness, in fact, a very strong desire on the part of the Scottish Government to see that settlement.”
Ms Sturgeon said that any agreement would have to be affordable and “fair to other public sector workforces, including the broader local government public sector workforce, that has already accepted a pay increase that is the same as that offered to teachers.”
She said she had some sympathy for the 10% ask, but that the government had to “reach agreements that are affordable within the resources we've got.”
“We do want to reach a settlement here and we will strive to find the common ground that a settlement might be struck on, but that is going to take compromise. Obviously, that will involve compromise on the part of employers, but it will also involve compromise on the part of unions.”
READ MORE: Half a million walk out in biggest action in decades
Asked about contingency plans, the First Minister said they were in place “for a whole range of possible scenarios, most of which we hope never come to pass.”
“I'm not going to get to the details of that right now,” she said. “If it is necessary, those contingency arrangements will be set out in full, but I very much hope that they are not. What I would say to parents, to young people and to teachers is that we will do everything in our power to avoid any such needs for contingency plans of that nature.”
“I don't want to see children's education disrupted, that would be the case at any time, but it is particularly the case after the unavoidable disruption that we've had in the last few years because of Covid,” she added.
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