A second teaching union will ballot its members on a new offer to end a long-running dispute, but a senior figure has described the pay rise as “paltry” and hit out at the talks where it was devised.
The NASUWT said on Saturday the latest offer from the Scottish Government and councils “falls short of what teachers have demanded”. The new offer will see teachers getting a 12.3% increase by April 2023 and it will rise to 14% by 2024.
Last week, the union claimed it had been excluded from talks between the Scottish Government and the EIS – the country’s biggest teaching union. The EIS announced on Friday it was suspending its planned strike action to ballot members on the offer.
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “It comes as no surprise to see this latest pay offer appearing as if from nowhere, following meetings held in the last few days which excluded the NASUWT, in order to cook up this latest proposal.
"This latest pay offer provides only a paltry improvement over the previous offer that was rejected by our members. No doubt employers, the Scottish Government and others will want to claim that this offer represents a significant improvement for teachers, when in fact that means another pay cut for the profession.
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"The manipulation of future pay award dates cannot disguise the fact that this latest offer falls short of what teachers have demanded and it is likely to be viewed as too little too late. We will hear what teachers have to say as we consult our members on this latest offer.”
The union’s national official Mike Corbett said its “campaign of industrial action, including action short of strike action, continues”.
Scotland’s Education Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: “This pay offer would amount to a cumulative rise of 33% for most teachers since January 2018 and would bring the starting salary for a fully qualified teacher, already the highest in the UK, to £38,650 after probation by January 2024.
“We have looked for compromise and arrived at a deal that is fair, affordable, and sustainable for everyone involved.”
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