Teaching unions say they have received “very strong support” as they enter a second day of strike action which has closed schools in Lanarkshire and those across Scotland.
All of the county’s secondary schools are shut to pupils today – following Tuesday’s closure on the second day of term of every primary school and associated nursery class – as staff take action in their ongoing pay dispute.
Members of the EIS, NASUWT, SSTA and AHDS unions have all been taking part in the two days of action, which follow November’s historic first national teachers’ strike in four decades.
Staff at St Margaret’s High in Airdrie were among those setting up picket lines on Wednesday morning, and were joined by colleagues all over Scotland as they highlight their pay campaign.
The EIS is calling for a 10 per cent pay rise for the profession and NASUWT asking for 12 per cent for the current school year.
Primary teachers took similar action at local schools on Tuesday, and EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said they had “responded magnificently”, saying: “While they would much rather be in class working with children, teachers have turned out on picket lines to send a very clear message to the Scottish Government and Cosla that they must do better on pay.”
Every primary, secondary and additional support needs school in North Lanarkshire is due to close again next Thursday, January 19, along with the authority’s 57 term-time nursery classes, as part of a planned programme of rolling strike dates across the country.
North Lanarkshire Council is currently advising families: “The industrial action may mean that you will need to consider additional childcare arrangements” and that there will be no “school meal provision on site, school transport, breakfast clubs or crossing patrols on [this] date.”
The authority adds: “This is a situation that may be subject to change and parents/carers will be informed at the first opportunity if there are further changes to the school day.” South Lanarkshire’s equivalent strike date will be two weeks later, on February 3.
EIS representative Ms Bradley said 80 per cent of respondents to a national parents’ survey supported the strike action, and said: “Teachers on picket lines have received very strong support from parents – [they] understand the value of teachers, and teachers are grateful for the continuing support of parents in our campaign for a fair pay settlement.
“While there has been some slight progress in discussions over the past week, we are still awaiting an improved offer from the Scottish Government and Cosla more than nine months after teachers should have received a pay rise.
“Only a substantially improved offer can end this dispute. The repeated delays during the negotiation process [and] repeated attempts to pit teachers against other groups of workers have only served to strengthen resolve to achieve a fair pay settlement.”
NASUWT officials say the current pay offer of between five and 6.85 per cent “is a real-terms pay cut and is not acceptable”, with general secretary Dr Patrick Roach saying union members have been “left with no choice”.
He said: “It just cannot be acceptable to expect teacher pay to be cut yet again at a time when we are facing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation; members will not stand by and continue to watch their pay and living standards shrink further.”
Scotland official Mike Corbett added: “Teacher numbers have dipped while pupil numbers have increased and, meantime, teacher-training institutions cannot fill all of their places – if there is no significantly improved pay offer then these recruitment and retention problems will become a full-blown crisis and threaten the whole education system.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday: “I deeply regret that we have industrial action in our schools; I don’t think that’s in the interest of young people at all. That said, I understand the strength of feeling of teachers and we highly value the teaching profession.
“I can’t create additional funding that we don’t have, and I’ve tried to be really honest with unions across the public sector – we’re trying to be as fair as possible while maximising pay increases.”
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “We’ll continue discussions with the unions. The challenge we have is we remain some distance apart on what the Scottish Government and local government can afford and can put on the table from the union demand.”
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