TEACHERS in Glasgow are to vote on striking in a row over job cuts.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union has announced a strike ballot and on Monday informed the local authority of the risk of disruptive industrial action. It runs until October 1.
The union is protesting “damaging” plans to axe 450 teaching posts in Glasgow – or about 10% of the city’s total – over a three-year period.
Most of the posts planned for the chop have already gone, the EIS said and more are to follow.
The EIS’s Glasgow local association secretary Jane Gow said: “The EIS is calling on Glasgow council to withdraw its damaging plan to cut these posts and to refrain from further cuts to teacher numbers.”
She said that cutting teacher numbers would “irreparably damage the life chances of many of the city’s young people and most especially those with additional support needs”.
Gow added: “All teachers are [additional support needs] teachers and to lose 10%, from an already struggling service, must be resisted at all costs.”
The EIS has also raised concerns the plans would have a “significant and damaging effect” on efforts to close the attainment gap, which sees poorer children perform worse at school than their better-off peers.
Gow added: “Our city contains 35% of Scotland’s children who live in the most deprived areas. These pupils need more targeted teaching and support, more small group learning and more teachers to nurture them towards attainment and achievement, not fewer.”
She called on Glasgow teachers to reject the council’s “dangerous proposals” by voting to go on strike.
A council spokesperson said: "The EIS have notified us of their statutory ballot, and we will await the outcome in due course.
"In the meantime, we will continue to liaise with union colleagues."
