Teachers at Hutchesons’ Grammar School, an independent school in Glasgow, will today begin a programme of strike action over their removal from the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme (STPS).
In a statutory industrial action ballot, which closed two weeks ago, 78 per cent of teachers who voted supported strike action. The turnout was 86 per cent.
The EIS, the country’s largest teaching union, has today called its members at Hutchesons’ Grammar out on strike, in what is believed to be the first-ever strike action at an independent school in Scotland.
Two more days of strike action are planned for Tuesday 30 May and Wednesday 31 May, when members of the NASUWT Scotland teaching union also plan to strike. NASUWT Scotland members will take four days of strike action, starting on Tuesday 30 May.
The EIS has just under 100 members at the school and the NASUWT Scotland has 11.
Hutchesons’ Grammar School issued “fire and rehire” letters to teaching staff over the Easter holidays, dismissing teachers from their contracts and telling them to sign new contracts, with inferior pension provision. Any teacher who declined to sign the new contract would no longer have a job at the end of the school year.
Teaching unions have repeatedly warned that other independent schools are watching what happens at Hutchesons’ Grammar and could follow suit if the school is successful in pushing through the changes.
At the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association annual congress in Crieff last week, Fiona Dalziel, assistant general secretary, told delegates that independent schools withdrawing from the STPS could weaken the scheme for everybody.
In its defence, Hutchesons’ Grammar - which is the former school of both first minister Humza Yousaf and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar - has said it is offering “a different pension, not an inferior one” and the STPS is being replaced with “a generous defined contribution scheme”. It has also said it is “necessary to cap one of the school’s biggest costs” given “current financial headwinds”.
However, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley described the school’s actions as “shameful”.
She added: “Hutchesons’ is a school with a long and proud history, with many former pupils now holding prominent positions in society. The recent actions of the school, however, reflect extremely poorly on Hutchesons’, are damaging the reputation of the school and, by forcing teachers into strike action, are also now impacting on the learning experience of pupils at Hutchesons’ Grammar.
“The school must now think again, reverse its course and reinstate teachers with their previous contractual terms and conditions.”
