Teachers in Scotland went on strike today for the final part of a rolling 16‐day campaign of walkouts - but more action is on the horizon with no new pay offer in sight.
EIS general secretary, Andrea Bradley, said this morning that industrial action will continue over the exam period unless a credible offer comes from the Scottish government and councils.
To date, the EIS has announced two days of national strikes, on 28 February and 1 March, followed by another wave of rolling strikes between 13 March and 21 April. Members of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and the NASUWT Scotland teaching union will also be striking on 28 February and 1 March.
However, the EIS says unless there is a credible offer on the table it intends “to use the full extent” of its mandate for industrial action, which runs until “more or less the middle of May”. Students in Scotland begin sitting their exams on Monday 24 April.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme this morning, Ms Bradley said: “The mandate that we have is operational until more or less the middle of May and we would intend, if there weren’t to be a resolution to the dispute before then, to use the full extent of the mandate. So that would cover the exam time.”
It was within the Scottish government’s “power and resource” to end the dispute but so far it had “lacked the political will” to do so.
Ms Bradley said: “Children and young people’s education has been disrupted over the course of the last couple of years as a result of the pandemic, and also as a result of the strike action teachers have been forced to take, but the responsibility for that rests solely with the Scottish government and [local authorities’ body] Cosla who, having received the pay claim a year ago tomorrow, have failed to bring a fair settlement thus far.”
She added: “Should the union receive a proposal or an offer our members could credibly consider we would absolutely look at suspending industrial action but, while there is nothing on the table, that is simply not a realistic possibility.”
Members of the EIS union in Inverclyde and Shetland have been striking today, with most primary and secondary schools closed as a result. It is the final day of a rolling strike action campaign that has lasted three weeks and has seen schools in two authorities affected each day.
Teaching unions have campaigned for a 10 per cent pay rise for their members, but the Scottish government has ruled this out as unaffordable; an offer which amounts to 5 per cent for most teachers has not changed since November.
The 16-day wave of walkouts, which has closed schools throughout Scotland, in two local authorities at a time until all 32 councils had been affected, has not led to a breakthrough.
The unions have accused the Scottish government of misrepresenting negotiations as “positive and constructive”, given no new offer has been made since November.
Now Ms Bradley has made it clear that without a credible offer, strikes could continue into the exam period in the spring. This would mark the third exam period out of the last four years to be hit with disruption after the impact of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.
Yesterday, Ms Somerville, who said the government and teaching unions were still “some way apart”, told the BBC it was for the teaching unions to suspend strikes ahead of the exam period to ensure there is no disruption.
“One of the aspects which I’m very, very determined to ensure is that children and young people have very limited disruption to their education going forward - exams are a critical part of that,” she said.
“I would hope that everyone involved in this dispute would be able to agree that we do not want to see exams disrupted.”
Ms Somerville added she was “absolutely” doing everything she could to end the dispute.
Teachers in England and Wales held their first day of strike action over pay last week, with more action planned.
