More than half of Scottish teachers say they would be willing to go on strike for more than one day over pay, according to a survey of more than 1,000 staff.
The survey, carried out by teaching union NASUWT Scotland, came as a ballot on the teachers’ pay offer, organised by teaching unions the EIS and SSTA, closed. The results are expected later today.
The EIS and SSTA urged teachers to use their vote in the ballot to overwhelmingly reject the offer of a 3 per cent rise across the board, with further rises dependent on the teacher’s stage of career.
The NASUWT Scotland survey - which involved 1,257 members - found that 56 per cent of teachers would be “prepared to support more than one day of strike action” to get more pay, while 10 per cent would not be prepared to take any form of industrial action.
Only 1 per cent of respondents said they were happy with the deal and only 8 per cent did not expect the offer to rise given the current economic climate.
However, 21 per cent of teachers said that, while pay was an issue, some other things concerned them more, giving credence to EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan’s observation that pay could act as a “lightning rod” for the “101 things teachers are angry about”.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the current pay offer would do nothing to combat the teacher-supply crisis - or the 20 per cent pay gap faced by teachers as a result of year-on-year pay cuts.
She added: “It is time that ministers and employers recognised that teachers are deeply frustrated by the lack of tangible progress in ensuring that year-on-year pay cuts are addressed, excessive workload is reduced and teachers are supported in tackling pupil indiscipline. Discussions are urgently needed on a new deal for teachers encompassing all of these issues, including a multi-year pay award designed to close the enormous pay gap.”
The unions have argued that the current pay deal was divisive because it would mean staff at different stages of their career would receive different pay rises. They are fighting for a 10 per cent pay rise for all teachers, and an estimated 30,000 teachers joined a rally last month in support of the campaign.
However, the Scottish government has argued that such a rise was “simply unaffordable” and the offer on the table was “a fair offer”, adding that it would cost the public sector £105 million and was in line with what was being offered to other public sector workers.
