Scotland’s first national teacher-led strike since the 1980s could take place on Wednesday 24 April.
The executive committee of the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, has this afternoon agreed to open a statutory strike ballot over pay, and agreed a timetable for the action.
This follows yesterday’s consultative ballot result - 57 per cent of those voting rejected the current pay offer and backed a move to a strike ballot, on a turnout of 81 per cent. The EIS represents around 80 per cent of Scotland’s teachers.
The ballot is scheduled to open on Monday 11 March, and will run for three-and-a-half weeks.
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EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “The 81 per cent turnout in our consultative ballot was quite remarkable and is a strong confirmation that it is our members who are making the decisions in this campaign.”
Backing for teacher strike action
Mr Flanagan added: “The vote - 57 per cent to reject the offer against 43 per cent to accept - was a decisive one and leaves both the Scottish government and [local authorities body] Cosla in no doubt as to the mood of members and both our ability and willingness to move to strike action if that is what is required to generate an acceptable offer.”
Mr Flanagan added: “The EIS, which represents 80 per cent of the profession, will continue to campaign for an improved pay offer for Scotland’s teachers.”
The EIS executive agreed that the union will continue to pursue a negotiated settlement and that it wishes to continue dialogue to that end. A meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers - the tripartite organisation comprising unions and local and national government - is scheduled for this Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a separate issue, the executive meeting also decided to recommend to the EIS council that no strike action would be taken during the Scottish Qualifications Authority exam diet but that further action would follow in June, if no negotiated solution has been achieved.
