Scottish teachers were this week offered a 5 per cent pay rise in a bid to stave off strike action, Tes Scotland can reveal.
It is understood that teachers were offered a 3 per cent rise on Monday, backdated to April, with a further 2 per cent backdated to August.
The previous offer from the Scottish government and councils of 3 per cent for the whole profession, with further uplifts for unpromoted teachers, was resoundingly rejected last month, with the teaching unions describing the offer as “divisive”.
Despite the government and local authority umbrella body Cosla having come back to the negotiating table, it appears unlikely the new offer will be enough, given that unions have been campaigning for a 10 per cent rise for all teachers and an estimated 30,000 people took to the streets of Glasgow in October in support of the Value Education, Value Teachers campaign. In the past, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said such a rise was not affordable.
At First Minister’s Questions this afternoon, Ms Sturgeon said the revised offer would not have gone ahead if it had been up to Labour councillors, who voted against it.
She made her comments in response to Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, who quoted from some of the 120 letters Ms Sturgeon was sent recently after inviting teachers to write to her about their concerns.
Some had come from SNP party members and even they, Mr Leonard said, were questioning whether education really was the Scottish government’s top priority.
Mr Leonard added: “All I am asking the first minister to do is to listen to members of her own party. There are 3,000 fewer teachers in our classrooms than there were when the SNP came to power. No progress has been made in closing the attainment gap and Scotland is facing its first teachers’ strike since Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street.
“The first minister told us again this morning that education is her top priority, but parents do not believe that, teachers do not believe that and now even her own party members do not believe that. Can the first minister tell us why anybody in Scotland should believe that education is her top priority?”
Ms Sturgeon responded by saying that teacher numbers were rising and that “we are seeing the attainment gap start to close”.
She added: “Richard Leonard commented on the prospect of industrial action in our schools. I do not want to see that happen and I will work as hard as I can to avoid it. That is why, thanks to SNP councillors and others at Cosla on Friday, a revised offer on pay has been made to teachers.
“I say again - and I ask Richard Leonard to reflect on this very carefully - Labour councillors at Cosla voted against making a revised offer. If it had been down to Labour councillors at Cosla last week, there would be no revised offer to teachers on the table and, as a result, industrial action would be closer. Perhaps Richard Leonard needs to reflect on the actions of his own party, just as I will continue to listen to members of my party and to teachers across the country.”
The news follows the improved pay offer made by local authorities to other council workers, who have been offered a three-year deal worth a total of 9.5 per cent.
