Scottish schools to close as last-minute talks over teachers’ strike fail

Schools across Scotland are to close on Thursday after a last minute pay offer aimed at halting the first national classroom walkout in decades was branded “an insult” by teachers.

The SNP Government had urged the EIS, the country’s most powerful teaching union, to call off its one-day strike after making an offer it insisted was “progressive and fair” after months of talks.

However, ministers failed to meet key union demands or find any more money for the settlement, instead weighing it in favour of the lowest paid teachers at the expense of senior school staff.

The EIS’s salaries committee unanimously voted to reject the deal meaning almost every school in the country will be shut on Thursday, with the union launching a scathing attack on the approach to talks taken by Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

Andrea Bradley, the EIS General Secretary, condemned the eleventh-hour offer as “nothing less than an abject insult to Scotland’s hard-working teaching professionals” and a “kick in the teeth” from SNP ministers.

The dispute between teachers and the SNP Government intensified further, with the EIS accusing Shirley-Anne Somerville, the education secretary, of making a “false statement” at Holyrood about the negotiations.

The teachers strike, the first national walk out since the mid-Eighties, is set to cause turmoil for working parents and deliver a blow to the Scottish economy, with some workers forced to take days off to look after children. 

Experts have also raised fears about the impact of school closures on the poorest pupils, after months of missed lessons due to Covid.

Nicola Sturgeon criticised

It will also see Ms Sturgeon criticised for presiding over further chaos in devolved services, with nurses and ambulance drivers also planning strike action.

“Teachers overwhelmingly rejected a five per cent offer more than three months ago and now, after months of prevarication and weeks of empty promises, Cosla [Convention of Scottish Local Authorities] and the Scottish Government come back with an offer that is worth that same five per cent to the vast majority of teachers,” Ms Bradley said.

“This is not, as the Scottish Government claims, a progressive offer – it is a divisive offer, made on a differentiated basis, which is actually worse for many teachers in promoted posts.

“Contrary to the claims made by the Cabinet Secretary in Parliament and in Scottish Government spin, this is not an improved, realistic, progressive or generous offer. Our members will see this offer for exactly what it is – a kick in the teeth from their employers and the Scottish Government.”

She added: “The offer includes no additional money, and is a sign of the contempt with which Cosla and the Scottish Government clearly view Scotland’s teaching professionals.”

The offer made on Tuesday would have seen probationer teachers receive salaries of £30,039, a rise of almost seven per cent on current levels. 

Permanent classroom teachers with less experience would have received slightly above the five per cent offered to most teachers.

However, many headteachers and their deputies, who earn between £52,350 and £99,609, would have seen their pay rises capped at £3,000.

Ten per cent increase

The EIS has demanded a ten per cent increase for all teachers, regardless of their seniority, and has suggested it will refuse to accept a deal that sees those on lower pay receive more generous percentage-terms rises.

The gulf in the positions of teachers and the government has increased the likelihood of further EIS strikes, scheduled for January, also going ahead. 

A second teaching union, the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), has voted for strike action which it says will take place on Dec 7 and 8.

“The unions have been led down the garden path by Cosla and the Scottish government,” an SSTA spokesman said.

“This offer will not go down well with teachers and I would expect the planned strikes to go ahead. Maybe they will listen to parents and children as they are not listening to teachers.”

The SNP Government has previously proved highly reluctant to take on the EIS, abandoning its flagship education legislation in the last Holyrood parliament following a backlash from the union.

The last time the union was close to strike action, in 2019, SNP ministers backed down and agreed a 13 per cent pay deal to avert school closures.

Unreasonable demands

However, Ms Somerville suggested that the union was being unreasonable by demanding a 10 per cent pay rise even for those on the highest salaries.

“This is a fair offer which recognises that the cost of living crisis is the priority, with higher increases for staff on lower salaries,” she said.

“This is now the fourth offer that has been made. In the same time EIS have not changed their request for a 10 per cent pay increase – even for those on the highest incomes.

“I have been clear that we have limited room for manoeuvre. The financial situation for the Scottish Government is challenging and additional money for teacher pay means reduced public services elsewhere.

“In these challenging times it is important we focus our attention on those who are most impacted by the cost of living crisis, as well as ensuring fairness to all public sector workers.”