Another teaching union has said that its members will join two days of nationwide strike action in Scotland, on Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 March.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) made the announcement today after another meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) on Friday failed to result in a new pay offer being put on the table.
Also today - with no further negotiation meetings of the SNCT currently scheduled - the EIS teaching union said that the Scottish government and local authorities’ body Cosla “have little or no interest in finding the modest additional funding that could bring a new offer to the table to potentially end this pay dispute”.
However, in a media briefing today covering a wide range of subjects, including the teacher pay strikes, first minister Nicola Sturgeon talked up the prospect of “a fair settlement...within the constraints of affordability and fairness”.
Previously, in an interview for BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, broadcast yesterday, the first minister was challenged after stating that Scotland has on average the best-paid teachers in the UK: it was pointed out during the interview that more experienced teachers in Scotland are paid less than their equivalents elsewhere in the UK.
The EIS took issue with another claim made by Ms Sturgeon, in the same interview, that teachers are being offered a pay increase for next year that is equivalent to that already accepted by janitors and school catering staff. The union tweeted this was wrong as staff in those jobs on a typical salary were seeing a pay increase of around 10 per cent.
The SSTA said today that, “following another failed SNCT negotiating meeting”, members will strike on Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 March, “joining members of other teaching unions in national strike action”.
SSTA union joins nationwide teacher strikes
SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said: “The SSTA has taken a measured approach to industrial action due to the impact it would have on the pupils preparing for exams. The deliberate inaction of the Scottish government and Cosla just shows the lack of respect and level of contempt, not only for teachers but for the pupils they teach, forcing teachers to take more strike action.”
Mr Searson said that the government and Cosla had “deliberately refused to put any new money on the table since August last year”.
He added: “The Scottish government and Cosla were adamant during the pandemic that schools needed to be kept open and education needed to be continued, regardless of the risks and dangers that teachers were placed in. These are the same people who have allowed this pay dispute to continue, to see schools closed and pupils’ education disrupted.”
SSTA president Catherine Nicol said: “Teacher unions are standing together and, with the support of the public and parents, we will succeed. However, we urge parents and members of the public to help by demanding action from the first minister and councils, and get teachers back to school teaching.”
Unions rejected November’s pay offer of 5 per cent for the majority of teachers and up to 6.85 per cent for probationer teachers. The EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, is campaigning for 10 per cent.
Des Morris, EIS salaries convener and chair of the teachers’ side of the SNCT, said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that both the Scottish government and Cosla have little or no interest in finding the modest additional funding that could bring a new offer to the table to potentially end this pay dispute.”
He condemned the “stubborn stance that Scotland’s teachers should accept 5 per cent, which represents yet another substantial real-terms pay cut that only further erodes the value of teachers’ pay”.
At today’s media briefing, Ms Sturgeon was asked if she would “step in” to help end the teacher pay dispute, as she had “stepped into the council worker pay negotiations last year”.
The first minister replied: ”This isn’t about me or the government stepping in...This is about seeking enough common ground that allows a fair settlement to be arrived at within the constraints of affordability and fairness that the Scottish government is operating within.”
She added that “we are trying to be fair within finite resource and we will continue to use all best endeavours to reach a settlement but - as was the case with the local government dispute, as has been the case so far with this year’s NHS pay increase - it is going to involve compromise”.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We remain in talks with unions and recent dialogue has explicitly been focused on the potential areas of compromise with a view to reaching an agreement which is acceptable to all sides and resolving this dispute. The current offer is the fourth that has been put to unions.
“The union demands for a 10 per cent increase for all teachers - even the highest paid - is not affordable within the Scottish government’s fixed budget and a more pragmatic approach is needed before we can reach a compromise.”
Katie Hagmann, Cosla spokesperson for resources, said: “Strikes in education are in nobody’s interest and all parties are eager to seek a resolution that not only protects the teaching and wider local government workforce, but also our children and young people’s educational experience,” she said.
“Cosla leaders are clear that given the financial pressures being faced, it remains the case that the 10 per cent ask of the trade unions remains unaffordable and therefore we still remain a distance apart in terms of a settlement.”
Ms Hagman added: “Given the local government settlement for 23/24, what teachers are asking for, over and above the current offer, is simply not sustainable on a recurring basis.
“Already, councils are considering a range of options to balance the books next year and options will inevitably include a reduction in jobs across all service areas, including schools.”
Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon said today that she had now watched a social media video showing a girl being attacked in a Fife secondary school, which she had been asked about in the Scottish Parliament last week.
She said “it is appalling and sickening to watch - a really difficult watch for anyone that views it”. She condemned bullying and violence in schools - describing it as “horrible and unacceptable” - and said that bullying was a “significant issue and a very significant concern”.
Ms Sturgeon added that the government was continuing to talk to councils about what it could do to support them in light of such incidents.
