Union ballots Scottish teachers over strike action
- Published
Scotland's largest teaching union is recommending that its members vote in favour of strike action in a dispute over pay.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has started a consultative ballot on the current 5% pay rise offered by local authority employers.
The EIS is asking teachers to reject the proposal in the ballot, which runs until 16 September.
The NASUWT teachers' union has also said it will reject the pay offer.
The developments came on the same day as unions called off planned strikes involving non-teaching staff in 11 council areas.
They had been due to walk out next week as part of a separate pay dispute, which also involved refuse workers.
On Friday, the executive committee of the EIS agreed to open a consultative ballot on the 5% pay offer to teachers.
General secretary Andrea Bradley called on members to reject the "insulting" pay offer and vote in favour of potential strike action to seek an improved pay settlement.
She said the 10% pay claim which had been submitted by teaching unions was "extremely measured, thoroughly evidence-based and unequivocally deserved".
"Teachers are increasingly angry that their pay is not keeping pace with the soaring cost of living, as inflation reaches unprecedented levels, and are impatient for the union to take action on their behalf," she added.
The NASUWT union has also urged local authorities body Cosla to come back with a "vastly improved offer".
"If they fail to do so we remain committed to balloting members this term for industrial action," said general secretary Patrick Roach.
The union said 582 of its members had taken part in a snapshot survey, with more than 80% saying the current offer should be rejected.
As one public sector pay dispute comes towards a conclusion, so another pay row grows. Schools could have been closed by next week's council strike. Now the prospect of a strike by teachers cannot be dismissed.
To be clear, a teachers' strike is still some way off. A consultative ballot does not provide a legal basis for a strike. But it can help to demonstrate the feelings of union members and that can be a powerful negotiating tool.
The offer which may resolve the council pay dispute will be looked at carefully by all the public sector unions. They will feel that, at the very least, what is good enough for one group of workers is good enough for others.
But unions would argue the way the council pay dispute unfolded could offer lessons. Firstly, they argue that strikes could have been avoided if there had been talks at an earlier stage.
Then they had hoped the very threat of the Edinburgh bin strike would have been enough to settle the row. Instead came a week of action across Scotland with the prospect of more to come.
The EIS will be hopeful the mere risk of a teachers' strike will lead to a better pay offer and that talks now could prove sufficient.