Teachers to vote on strike action at AGM

A number of motions relating to pay and conditions will be debated

Scotland’s biggest teaching union could back a ballot on industrial action over pay when it meets for its AGM this week.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will debate several motions related to pay and conditions, including one backing strikes from the beginning of the 2018/19 school year, if next year’s settlement does not reach an agreement.

The union’s general secretary, Larry Flanagan, said the mood of teachers was hardening over pay as he called for the Scottish Government and council body Cosla to address it urgently.

The EIS said staff had endured a decade of “real-terms erosion” as part of public-sector pay restraint.

The national negotiating committee for teachers called for an above-inflation pay increase that would see the average salary rise by as much as 20% in its 2017 pay claim.

Unions say salaries have decreased in real terms since the 2001 McCrone Agreement.

EIS members will debate a motion at the conference starting on Thursday, calling for “a campaign to restore salaries to the values of the McCrone settlement, based on inflation figures, and to negotiate on this basis for next year’s pay settlement”.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Teachers’ pay and conditions of service are matters for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).

“The SNCT negotiations are currently ongoing and the Scottish Government will play our part in that process.”