Teacher strike action by members of the EIS union will target the constituencies of first minister Nicola Sturgeon and several other key figures, in the latest escalation of the long-running pay dispute.
In a move announced this afternoon, the EIS also said that strikes will take place in the constituencies of education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, deputy first minister and former education secretary John Swinney and Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer, whose party is in government with the SNP.
Another key figure who will be targeted in this fresh wave of strike action is Katie Hagmann, an SNP councillor in Dumfries and Galloway who is resources spokesperson for local authorities’ body Cosla.
The new action comes on top of strike days around the country that had already been announced for the coming months.
EIS members in four of these five areas will be called out on three consecutive days from Wednesday 22 February to Friday 24 February inclusive. All five areas will be targeted for a further three days of action from Tuesday 7 March. Details of the schools involved in this action will be published “shortly”, the EIS said.
The teaching union added: “Further periods of targeted action are likely if no new pay offer is forthcoming.”
Teacher strikes: pay offer ’will never be acceptable’
Ms Somerville was quizzed about the escalation of teachers’ strike action this afternoon in the Scottish Parliament.
She said that none of the targeted strike action “changes the financial reality that we are operating in - it does not change the need for all parties to compromise accordingly”.
Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said that Ms Somerville showed “not one ounce of energy or urgency to resolve this dispute” and that strike action now posed a “clear threat” to the 2023 exams that start on 24 April.
Labour education spokesperson Michael Marra suggested that the current strike action was now resembling the teacher strikes of the mid-1980s, which focused on the constituencies of key Conservative MPs such as Michael Forsyth, George Younger, Peter Fraser and Malcolm Rifkind.
Today marks one year since teaching unions submitted their pay claim for 2022-23 via the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).
Unions have been campaigning for a 10 per cent pay offer but there has been no change to an offer that was put on the table in November, which amounts to 5 per cent for most teachers. This offer was little changed from an offer made last August. The dispute led to the first national teacher strike over pay since 1984-85, on 24 November.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “It is deeply regrettable that the continuing inaction, obfuscation and spin from the Scottish government and Cosla on teachers’ pay has led to an escalation of our programme of strike action.
“It has now been a year since our pay claim was submitted, and teachers should have had their pay rise in their pay packet last April.”
Ms Bradley added: “The latest offer, for a well-below-inflation 5 per cent, has now been kicking around for six months and has been rejected by Scotland’s teachers twice.
“Our members have already taken part in three days of national strike action, and a further 16 days of rolling action across the country. The response from the Scottish government and Cosla has been, essentially, nil - and this now has forced an escalation in our action.
“The offer of a 9 per cent real-terms pay cut, which is what is on the table, will never be acceptable.”
Today’s targeted escalation of strike action is on top of two days of national strike action already planned for 28 February and 1 March, and 20 further days of rolling strikes across all local authority areas from 13 March to 21 April.
