Teachers accept 14% pay of fer... but their union vows to f ight on!

UNION bosses have vowed to carry on with the schools pay dispute, despite a majority of teachers voting to accept the latest offer.

NASUWT members narrowly supported the deal after 52 per cent said they are in favour of it.

The latest proposals will see a 7 per cent pay rise backdated to April last year, 5 per cent more from next month and a further 2 per cent increase in January.

It comes after the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, and the SSTA both recommended their members accept the new deal.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville ‘welcomed’ the deals and said it meant the threat of strike action in Scottish schools had been ‘formally lifted’.

However, the NASUWT has stated it remains ‘in dispute’ with ministers and local authorities.

According to the union, which has around 7,000 members in Scotland, 46 per cent of respondents said they disagreed with or were angered by the latest offer, while 39 per cent said they believed it ‘necessary in the circumstances’.

It said 13 per cent agreed with the offer.

The union said it ‘continues to have a live mandate for industrial action’ and that its members still plan to take action short of striking.

NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: ‘We have asked our members for their views on the latest pay proposals, which include marginal improvements over what was previously on the table.

‘It is clear our members are fed-up with being taken for granted, with the interminable

‘Fed up with being taken for granted’

delays and with the secretive way in which the Scottish Government and the employers have acted.

‘Teachers have waited far too long and expect to see more money in their pockets now.

‘Teachers have endured more than a decade of cuts to their pay alongside rising levels of workload and worsening working conditions which still need to be addressed.

‘Our members have voted in almost equal measure on acceptance and rejection of the latest offer, indicating that this belated deal is not good enough.’

The union said the pay award was ‘almost a year late in coming, and follows months of dither, delay and game-playing by the employers and the Scottish Government’.

It said that during that time, teachers had been left to struggle with rising cost of living pressures and deepening financial hardship.

Dr Roach added: ‘The Scottish

Government and Cosla need to take responsibility for the breakdown of industrial relations seen over recent months and for the disruption it caused.’

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Stephen Kerr said: ‘Given that a majority of their members have accepted this pay offer, it’s time for the union to do likewise, so that this long, damaging dispute can finally be consigned to history.’

Ms Somerville said: ‘This decision means that the threat of further strike action in our schools is now lifted, which is great news for our children and young people, particularly those preparing for exams.’