Teachers move to strike over pay and conditions
TEACHERS have signalled they may strike unless their pay is increased.
The teacher’s union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), is to mount a campaign to restore teachers’ salaries to the values set out in the 2001 McCrone agreement, which limited working hours to 35 hours a week.
Larry Flanagan, EIS general secretary, said the “soaring workload” teachers had to deal with, together with “recruitment challenges” facing the profession, meant that teachers must be paid “an appropriate level”.
The union’s AGM in Perth backed a motion saying failure to reach a deal on this would result in them balloting members on industrial action that could hit schools in 2018-19. The motion instructs the union leadership to “prepare 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”.
Flanagan said: “Today’s AGM has sent out a very strong message to local authority employers and the Scottish Government that action needs to be taken to address declining levels of teachers’ pay.
“Following more than a decade of declining pay, real-terms pay cuts and pay freezes, the mood of teachers is hardening.”
The Scottish Government is spending £1 million trying to attract people into teaching as well as a new initiative aimed at attracting top graduates.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has already urged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to consider bringing in the Teach First scheme, which is already running in England and trains graduates before putting them in classrooms.
EIS education convener Susan Quinn said: “The EIS is not opposed to alternative pathways into teaching – we are opposed to shortcuts which would impact on the high standards of our teaching profession.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are absolutely committed to freeing up teachers to do what they do best, teach, and have already acted to reduce teachers’ workload. Teachers’ pay and conditions are matters for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. Negotiations are currently ongoing and the Scottish Government will play its part in that process.”