16 more days of classroom chaos
Biggest teaching union announces fresh strikes
TEACHERS in Scotland will strike for 16 consecutive days early next year after their pay dispute with the Scottish Government escalated yesterday.
Scotland’s biggest teaching union announced the dates for January and February as it continued to reject a ‘shoddy’ deal.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said that the action will mean teachers in two local authorities walking out on each of the 16 days – starting on January 16 and lasting until February 6.
General secretary Andrea Bradley praised the teachers who took part in the first all-out strike in 40 years on Thursday. She said they had been angered by the conduct of the Scottish Government and council body Cosla in presenting their latest offer.
National strike days had already been announced for January 10 for teachers in primary and special schools as well as early years, and on January 11 for those in secondary schools and secondary special schools.
Announcing the latest dates, Miss Bradley said: ‘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 judgment of Scotland’s teachers on the matter of pay is clear, with the first programme of national strike action 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.’
In the latest pay proposals, the Scottish Government said teachers earning under £40,107 would receive a rise of £1,926 per year – 6.85 per cent for those on the lowest salaries – while those on more would get 5 per cent.
Scottish Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said there was no more money available and any increase in funding would have to come from elsewhere in the budget. The EIS has been pushing for a minimum of a 10 per cent pay rise.
Labour education spokesman Michael Marra said that the announcement of further strike dates was ‘inevitable’ and called on Nicola Sturgeon to take part in the negotiations.
He said ‘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.’
He added: ‘The First Minister must personally come to the negotiating table to get a deal done where the Government has failed to dreadfully so far.’
Meanwhile, around 8,000 university staff took part in their second day of strike action yesterday. Lecturers, librarians and researchers belonging to the University and College Union (UCU) continued a 48-hour walkout in a dispute over pay, pensions and conditions.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland show yesterday, UCU Scotland’s Mary Senior said staff are ‘burnt out’, adding: ‘We really are in an unsustainable situation.’
Meanwhile, postal workers in the Communication Workers Union walked out again yesterday in a bitter pay dispute.