Teachers will strike during exams if dispute not resolved, says EIS union

Members of the EIS union were out on the picket line in Shetland on Monday

Teachers will continue to strike during the exam season if the current dispute is not resolved, a union has said.

Three weeks of rolling action by the union across different council areas has reached its final day, with staff striking in Shetland and Inverclyde.

But more national strikes are planned for the end of the month, followed by another programme of rolling action.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the mandate was in place until "more or less the middle of May".

"If there wasn't a resolution before then, we would intend to use the full extent of the mandate, so that would cover the exam time," she told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme.

The EIS has already announced two further days of national strikes, on 28 February and 1 March, followed by a further 20 days of rolling strikes between 13 March and 21 April.

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Without a deal, strikes could continue into the exam period - potentially the third time in four years it faces disruption after the impact of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.

Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said on Sunday that teachers should suspend their strike action while pay talks continue, to allow schools to stay open,

She called for "more compromise" but Ms Bradley said all possible resolutions put forward by the union had been "dismissed, rejected or ignored" by the Scottish government and local government body Cosla.

"There has to be compromise on both sides," she said.

"If the union should receive a proposal or offer that our members could credibly consider, we would absolutely look at suspending industrial action.

"But while there is nothing on the table, that is simply not a realistic possibility.

"We have been looking at 5% or thereabouts since August. That is not credible, and they know that is not credible, yet they have failed to bring forth anything further that our members can realistically consider."

'Lack of political will'

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

The education secretary has previously said there will be no new pay offer and that the union's requested 10% pay rise is unaffordable.

With the next strike dates three weeks away, Ms Bradley said: "There is plenty of time for meaningful negotiation in the interim period.

"The main thing to remember is that the pay claim for teachers has been sitting on the desks of ministers and Cosla since before last year's exam diet, and they have failed to bring a settlement for it," she added.

"It is entirely within their power and resource to do so, but as yet they have lacked the political will to bring this dispute to an end and ensure that children's and young people's education is not disrupted further."

Pupils could face more disruption in the lead up to the exams period

The education secretary told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that local government body Cosla and the unions remained "some way apart".

But she called for more talks in the coming week.

"Trade union colleagues have their mandate to strike and I absolutely respect that," she said.

"But what we could see, as we have seen in other sectors, is a suspension and no further strike dates while talks are continuing.

"I've asked trade unions to look at that - they have so far refused. But, particularly as we move forward to exam season, I would like them to consider it."