ONE of the country’s most senior judges is to decide whether North Lanarkshire has breached the terms of the McCrone agreement by stipulating how the 35-hour week is to be broken down at school level. It will be the first legal test of the new conditions.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association last week won backing from Lord Hardie in the Court of Session for a judicial review. In the meantime, Lord Hardie has prevented the hearing of appeals on school agreements.
David Eaglesham, the union’s general secretary, protested that North Lanarkshire had prescribed in detail how working hours would be allocated. “The McCrone agreement clearly specifies that the use of additional working hours - beyond class teacher and preparation and correction time - will be agreed by teachers in each individual school,” Mr Eaglesham said.
“The only responsibility of a local authority in this matter is to set up the mechanism whereby each school will reach agreement. It is not open to the authority to mandate which of the relevant activities are undertaken and at what time and in what manner.”
Mr Eaglesham said the union had repeatedly raised the issue over the past 17 months and was left with no alternative to court action.
“There is still the opportunity for North Lanarkshire to see the merit of our argument and to produce a new local agreement which avoids these difficulties without the need for a judicial review or further legal action. I would call upon their officers to do this without delay,” he said.
Lord Hardie, in granting the union’s action, said: “I would express the hope that the JNCT (joint negotiating committee for teachers) may wish to reflect to determine whether it wants to be embroiled in litigation and review what it has done hitherto.”
The authority said it was “disappointed” that the union had gone to law and pointed out that agreements had been reached in all but five secondaries.
“As the issue is a matter for the court, it would not be appropriate for the council to comment further,” John O’Hagan, director of administration, said.
The issue is the same one that Educational Institute of Scotland members were balloted on in May, when a majority supported the actions of their local negotiators in reaching a working time agreement.
Members were particularly upset about the timing and place of staff meetings in secondaries and the authority’s insistence that 13 of the 20 meetings had to be outwith the school day.
Mr Eaglesham said this week that the SSTA was defending the national agreement by contesting the case. “It is the underlying principle that it is not within the competence of the JNCT in North Lanarkshire to make such determinations,” he said.
