The Scottish government is being warned that failure to act over teacher pay could result in “a perfect storm”, with teaching unions in all four UK nations working to the “same calendar” and strike action possible in schools throughout Britain over the winter.
Yesterday English teaching unions reacted with anger to the government’s pay rise of 5 per cent for experienced teachers - the rise for new teachers was set at almost 9 per cent.
The 5 per cent rise was dismissed by the NEU teaching union as a real-terms pay cut, and it said it was looking to consult its members in the autumn in “the largest ballot of teachers for a generation”.
It also said that the rise for new teachers fell short of “the government’s 2019 plan to reach a £30,000 starter salary within two years”.
The NEU and the NASUWT teaching unions have both called for pay rises that reflect rising inflation. Meanwhile, in Scotland unions are demanding a 10 per cent rise this year but to date have been offered only a “completely inadequate” 2 per cent rise.
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), is now urging the Scottish government to come up with more cash so councils can offer teachers a more substantial rise. Otherwise, he believes strike action could take place in schools throughout the four UK nations this winter.
Mr Searson, who has also worked as a trade union official in England and in Northern Ireland, said: “We work very closely with the English teaching unions. Therefore, if we are forced to take industrial action, it will probably be closely linked. From a secondary point of view, the optimum time for us is November because if you wait until January secondary staff start getting worried about exams and are reluctant to take strike action.
“So there is a window of opportunity when we go back after the summer holidays to campaign and up the ante in August and September, get ready to ballot in October and strike in November. Across the UK - in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - they will be on the same calendar.
Teacher strikes could take place across the UK
“That means all the schools in the UK could be closed around the same time because teachers are taking strike action. In some ways it’s the perfect storm.”
However, he added that the Scottish government could still resolve the dispute.
Mr Searson said: “The longer the Scottish government and [local authorities’ body] Cosla delay, the more anger there is going to be among the profession. It would be nice if we came back at the start of the new term and the Scottish government had put in the additional money needed to make an offer.
“This is about retaining teachers in the job. Two per cent isn’t enough to do that but neither is 5 per cent - we have got to invest in teachers.”
Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland national official, said that if the Scottish government failed to match the English offer of 5 per cent, it would be “walking straight into negative headlines and comparisons with Boris Johnson’s government”. However, he questioned whether a 5 per cent rise would be accepted in any case.
“The deal in England can’t fail to have some kind of impact but even if it leads to a 5 per cent offer, I would be very surprised if our members would be happy with what is essentially another pay cut,” he said.
The pay rises announced by the UK government yesterday would take teacher starting salaries outside London to £28,000 as of September. However, in 2019, the UK government pledged to reach a starting salary of £30,000.
In Scotland new teachers are guaranteed a job for the first year after they qualify so they can serve their probation and they earn £28,113. When they complete this probation year (officially known as the induction year) and become fully fledged teachers, the starting salary is £33,729.
Teachers at the top of the main scale in Scotland earn £42,336; as of September teachers at the top of the upper pay scale in England working outside London will earn £43,685 (currently, they earn £41,604).
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (usually referred to as the SNCT), the body that negotiates teachers’ pay and conditions of service. It is for local government, as the employer, to make any revised offer of pay.”
