South Lanarkshire education facilities will be closed next Thursday due to strikes.
Teaching unions will hold industrial action on Thursday, November 24, in pursuit of a ten per cent pay increase.
It is anticipated that all South Lanarkshire primary, secondary or ASN schools will be closed for pupils on that day. This includes nursery classes in primary schools.
There will be an exception for 52-week nurseries, and stand-alone nurseries will also be open as normal. This includes St Paul’s Nursery in Hamilton, Newton Farm Nursery in Cambuslang and St Mary’s Nursery in Lanark, which although based in schools are not subject to closure.
A council spokesman told us : “On the planned industrial action day of 24 November by the teacher trades unions, our primary, secondary and ASN schools will not be able to open for pupils.
"School breakfast clubs will not operate on the day of the strike. This includes nursery classes in primary schools.”
Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, the EIS , have voted to take industrial action in nearly all Scotland’s schools, and this is the first national strike by the union for almost 40 years.
The union said that 96 per cent of the 35,000 teachers who took part in its ballot had backed a strike, after rejecting a five per cent pay offer from employers.
Andrea Bradley, the EIS’s general secretary, said: “We hoped not to get to this point but with a pay rise for teachers now more than seven months late, and with the last pay offer having been rejected by teachers almost three months ago, the blame for this move to strike action sits squarely with Cosla and the Scottish Government.
“They have sat on their hands for far too long, dithering and delaying while the soaring cost of living continues to erode the value of their pitiful offers to Scotland’s teachers.”
Scottish education secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said:“We recognise the vital importance of reaching a fair and affordable resolution on pay, both for the workforce during a cost of living crisis and for the pupils and parents who rely on the vital services our teaching workforce deliver.
“Strikes in our schools are in no one’s interest – least of all for pupils, parents and carers who have already faced significant disruption over the past three years.”
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