Teachers across Scotland have walked out on their first national pay strike in almost 40 years.
Almost every school in Scotland is shut as thousands of members of the EIS teaching union picket their workplaces in pursuit of a better pay offer, while members of primary school leaders’ body the AHDS are also on strike today.
As well as picketing outside schools across the country, teachers will demonstrate outside the Scottish Parliament. Many teachers are also expected to travel to rallies in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Elgin, Glasgow and Inverness.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley described the latest offer from local authorities’ body Cosla on Tuesday - which represented the same 5 per cent for most teachers that they had been offered previously - as “simply a lazy reheating of the offer that our members have already rejected”.
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, however, said that the Scottish government’s budget is under “extreme pressure” and that the 10 per cent rise sought by the EIS is “unaffordable”.
Today, Ms Bradley said: ”We really did not want to be in this position, and have engaged constructively in talks for many months, but have been forced into this strike by the inaction of the Scottish government and Cosla who have refused to make any improvement to a pay offer that was roundly rejected by teachers three months ago. Instead, what has been offered amounts to a differentiated pay cut whichever way you look at it.”
She said that the government and Cosla had “dragged the process out endlessly, while soaring inflation has decreased the value of their offers still further” and that Tuesday’s offer was “simply an obvious repackaging of the same offer that teachers overwhelming rejected three months ago”.
Ms Bradley said: “For most teachers, there is no improvement at all, as 80 per cent of teachers are still being offered 5 per cent. For the majority of those in management positions, such as headteachers and deputes, this offer would give them less than the previously rejected offer.”
She added: “Such a pathetic, divisive offer will never be acceptable to the EIS or to Scotland’s teachers, and Scotland’s teachers will be out in force today - on picket lines outside schools and at pay campaign rallies across Scotland - to demonstrate clearly their outrage and their determination to secure a much improved, genuinely fair pay settlement from Cosla and the Scottish government.”
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Strikes are in no one’s interest and we continue to engage with the unions to find a resolution.
“It is very disappointing that the EIS has rejected the latest offer, which is fair and progressive and mirrors the deal accepted by other local government workers.”
Speaking to Bauer Radio today, Ms Somerville said a 10 per cent pay offer was “simply unaffordable”.
“We have shown our support for teachers, we recognise the value of teachers, but they also need to recognise the context the government is working in,” she said.
“Let’s just get round the table - rather than more strike dates being announced and a further escalation.”
Meanwhile, around 70,000 members of the University and College Union across the UK are on strike today, in a dispute over pay, pensions and contracts. Members of the Communication Workers Union at the Royal Mail are also on strike today.
