Members of Scotland’s largest teachers’ union have rejected a 5% pay offer and backed strike action.
The EIS union said 78% of its members took part in a consultative vote on pay and working conditions.
A total of 94% of participants voted to reject Cosla Local Authority’s 5% salary offer and 91% supported the strike action in a bid for a better salary offer.
Now a legally required vote of the EIS members takes place.
If teachers hit back on this legislative vote, the EIS will move on to taking industrial action in schools across Scotland.
On Thursday, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association announced its members had also rejected the 5% pay deal, with the majority saying they would support strike action without an improved deal.
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EIS Secretary General Andrea Bradley said: “This is a stunning election result which shows very clearly the collective view of Scottish teachers on their pay: Cosla and the Scottish Government need to do better.
“The current 5% offer represents a 7% real pay cut for teachers, but employers have hailed this as a generous proposal.
“The message of today’s election result is very clear: we will not accept this wage proposal and are ready to strike for a fair wage settlement.”
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Cosla has also been embroiled in industrial disputes with education workers and cleaning workers in recent months.
The Scottish Government has previously said it is “obliged to support a fair salary offer for teachers”.
Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) workers were due to stage a series of strikes in the coming weeks, but action was suspended after a new salary offer.
The SQA said its new offer would mean an average consolidated overall increase of 5.9%, excluding wage progress.
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