Many schools in 24 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are to close next week as a result of strike action, after a union rejected the “best and final” pay offer from council leaders.
Unison, one of three unions involved in the negotiations, said yesterday that strikes would go ahead as it had rejected the offer.
This morning, however, the other two unions in the dispute, Unite and GMB Scotland, suspended strike action to allow members to consider the new offer.
It had been expected that three-quarters of Scottish schools would close if the strikes went ahead, across 26 council areas. However, the decisions by Unite and GMB mean that strikes will not now go ahead in North Lanarkshire and Falkirk.
It is not clear how many schools in the 24 council areas will close. School staff who are members of Unison, including cleaners and janitors, will walk out for three days from Tuesday in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.
Teaching unions and school leadership bodies are not striking next week but have issued advice to members.
The EIS teaching union
The EIS has published general advice for members and also separate advice for headteachers.
A spokesperson said: ”Basically, members can be required to attend their normal place of work if it remains open during a strike. They can be required to provide online learning from within the school building if it is open. But legal opinion advises that teachers cannot be required to deliver online learning from home.”
Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association
The SSTA underlines in its advice on strikes that the SSTA is not taking industrial action, so it would be “unlawful for any member of the SSTA to take industrial action”.
The SSTA states: “Where members of another STUC-affiliated trade union are involved in industrial action, SSTA members should:
- report for work as normal
- set appropriate work for classes timetabled for the day
- not accept any variation to their contracted duties and/or undertake duties or other responsibilities of those involved in the strike
- regard time gained on the day as additional planning, preparation and correction time, not as additional ‘collegiate’ time.”
The NASUWT teaching union
In advice sent to members, NASUWT Scotland said: ”It is unlawful for any member of the NASUWT to take industrial action where the NASUWT has not given a specific notice to the employer advising that action will be taken.”
Members have been advised that they can “show solidarity” to trade unions that are taking industrial action by refusing to take on the work of striking colleagues. “Members employed in schools cannot be required by law to cover the work of striking workers,” the NASUWT states.
Teachers should follow the advice of the headteacher on whether their school will be open, but the “NASUWT does not believe it makes much sense for those not taking action to be instructed to attend if all pupils are remaining at home”.
School Leaders Scotland
School Leaders Scotland, which represents secondary headteachers, has sent advice to members that states they ”may be required to undertake additional duties and responsibilities as considered reasonable by the local authority”, but adds: “This is not a licence for the local authority to require you to carry out anything which they ask.
“Whether or not you undertake additional duties and responsibilities will by and large be a matter of personal choice. As far as possible, we would encourage members who aren’t striking not to undertake duties of striking staff.”
The AHDS primary school leaders’ body
The AHDS has also published advice. Earlier this week, it told Tes Scotland: ”Members are not on strike and need to attend work as normal. They need to risk-assess the school’s capacity to open safely and to follow guidance provided by their employer.”
