First minister Nicola Sturgeon has indicated that the Scottish government will not “dig its heels in” over teacher pay, on the day that a new wave of strikes began.
There needs to be “compromise on both sides” if a deal is to be done that will bring the teacher strikes in Scotland to an end, Ms Sturgeon said.
However, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley told members of her union today that it may be necessary for strike action to continue beyond the school summer holidays.
Today, both the EIS - the largest teaching union in Scotland - and primary school leaders’ body AHDS began a rolling 16-day programme of strike action, concentrating on two different local authorities each day.
Ms Sturgeon, speaking at a briefing for journalists in Edinburgh about the NHS in Scotland (see picture above), said: “Of course, I am concerned about industrial action in our schools, because I don’t want to see that impact on young people and I don’t want to see teachers having to take industrial action.”
But she insisted that her Scottish government was “not a government that simply digs our heels in in industrial disputes”, citing as evidence talks that have so far prevented strikes by NHS staff in Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon, whose tone was less bullish than when grilled on teacher pay at the start of December, said: “We are a government that seeks to find resolutions to disputes, a government that tries to treat public sector workers as fairly as we possibly can, to maximise pay increases within the resources we have got, and to avoid industrial action.”
She indicated that ministers were open to further talks with teachers’ leaders, but added: “As we also see in the NHS, it does involve compromise on both sides. I hope we will see that compromise on both sides.”
Ms Bradley said teachers were prepared to strike into the new academic year if necessary.
The union’s current mandate for industrial action expires in May and Ms Bradley has said it would be a “matter of deep concern” if exams were impacted by industrial action.
Speaking at a rally at Glasgow’s City Chambers (see tweet above), she said: “If the action were to be ongoing towards the exams, then that would be a matter of deep concern to all, to [local authorities body] Cosla and the Scottish government, which says education is its number-one priority.
“We would hope that this dispute is brought to a much swifter resolution than that but that’s not to say that if there isn’t a resolution, our members will not be prepared to take action beyond that.
“The mandate lasts until May and it may be that we have to ballot members once more for another mandate for strike action into the new academic session - but we hope it won’t come to that.”
