Scottish teachers begin 16-day wave of rolling strikes

Teachers are launching a fresh wave of rolling strikes across Scotland as a union leader warned there was no end in sight to the current pay dispute.

Over the next 16 days the action will affect two local authorities a day, starting on Monday with Glasgow and East Lothian.

The Educational Institute of Scotland last week announced it would be followed by 22 extra days of strikes.

Ministers and councils have said a requested 10% pay rise is unaffordable.

The current 5% offer includes rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest-paid staff.

On Friday Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said she remained committed to a “fair and sustainable pay deal”.

Any new offer would need to be agreed by all 32 council leaders but they are not due to meet until the end of next week.

Last week, strikes closed almost every primary school in Scotland on Tuesday, and every secondary school on Wednesday.

Preliminary exams due to take place also had to be rescheduled for some pupils.

The strikes also saw all four unions representing teachers and headteachers walk out together for the first time.

Members of the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, the NASUWT, Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and the Association of Headteachers and Deputes (AHDS) unions were involved.

Ahead of the latest phase of strike action, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said there was a willingness to break the deadlock.

But she told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show: “In terms of an an end in sight, I think we are still quite a bit away from that because there aren’t figures on the table as yet that we can meaningfully work with to see a way through this dispute.

“There’s a bit more work to be done on behalf of Cosla and the Scottish government to get us there.”

Ms Bradley told the programme the offer that was made in November was “practically the same” as the previous one in August.

She added: “It has been badged as ‘fair and affordable’ by the Scottish government, in terms of what is fair and affordable to them, but we have been absolutely clear throughout this process so far that that 5% offer is neither fair nor affordable for our members.”

Asked if she thought that more effort was being put into ending the nurses’ dispute, the EIS general secretary said: “We are not really in the business of comparing ourselves to other groups of workers.

“We wish every group of workers who is in pursuit of fair play all the very best and we stand in solidarity with them.

“What we would say is that with the resource that the Scottish government has they should be able to attend to the needs of both sets of workers.”

EIS members have already taken three days of national strike action – one in November and two in January.

On Friday the union announced a 22-day programme of additional strike action.

It will include two days of national strike action in all schools on 28 February and 1 March, followed by a rolling programme of strikes for 20 days between 13 March and 21 April.

Over the second rolling strike period, each local authority area will be impacted by three consecutive days of action, with one day of strike action in all schools bookended by one-day strikes in primary and secondary schools.

Sixteen consecutive days of strikes are scheduled by the EIS and AHDS.

But could the action be called off before the programme is complete?

This depends on whether a new formal pay offer is made to the teachers unions and, crucially, whether that offer is a significant improvement on the existing one.

A new offer is expected soon but there is no formal timetable.

Any new offer would need to be agreed at a meeting of all 32 council leaders before it could be made officially.

Their next meeting is not due until the end of next week although a special meeting could be arranged sooner.

Speaking on Friday, the education secretary said recent meetings had focused on “examining options for compromise” rather than tabling a new offer.

Ms Somerville added: “While talks are ongoing, the Scottish government continues to urge the teaching unions to reconsider their plans for industrial action.

“Strikes in our schools are in no-one’s interest – including for pupils, parents and carers who have already had to deal with significant disruption over the past three years.

“We remain absolutely committed to a fair and sustainable pay deal.”

Local authority group Cosla said all parties were eager to seek a resolution but reiterated that the 10% pay rise asked for by unions remained “unaffordable”.

Spokeswoman Councillor Katie Hagmann said: “All parties are eager to seek a resolution that not only protects the teaching and wider local government workforce, but also our children and young people’s educational experience.”