Thousands of secondary school students face another day off from school as teachers’ unions officially rejected the latest collective bargaining agreement.
East Ayrshire Council said all of its secondary schools would be closed next week due to the strike by unions SSTA and NASUWT.
Inverclyde Council said most of its secondary schools would be closed to pupils in S1, S2 and S3.
Other councils have yet to confirm the agreements.
The teachers’ body of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), the negotiating forum for teachers’ salaries in Scotland, said the Scottish Government’s offer was “completely unacceptable to Scotland’s teachers”.
It officially rejected the deal on Wednesday.
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Almost all schools in Scotland were closed on Thursday last week due to a strike by the largest education union, EIS.
The SSTA and NASUWT are conducting strike action next Wednesday and Thursday. They plan to target different council areas each day.
East Ayrshire Council said its secondary schools would close on December 7.
Park School, a facility in Kilmarnock for pupils with additional support needs (ASN), will also be closed. The council said it hoped to keep its primary schools open while other ASN facilities and nurseries would function normally.
Inverclyde would also experience disruption at Craigmarloch School, which caters to primary and secondary school pupils with additional support needs.
Argyll and Bute Council says Campbeltown Grammar School will close but expect its other secondary schools to be open to some pupils.
West Dunbartonshire Council understands all of its schools will remain open.
Other councils have yet to confirm their agreements but hope to do so in the next few days.
Local authorities affected by SSTA and NASUWT continue to hit December 7th:
Argyll and Bute; Dumfries and Galloway; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Renfrewshire; Eilean Siar; City of Glasgow; highlands; Inverclyde; North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney; Renfrewshire; Shetland Islands; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; West Dunbartonshire
Local authorities affected by SSTA and NASUWT continue to hit December 8th:
City of Aberdeen; Angus; Aberdeenshire; Clackmannanshire; Dundee City; City of Edinburgh; East Lothian; Falkirk; Pipe; Midlothians; moray eel; Perth and Kinross; Scottish Borders; stirling; West Lothian
In general, next week’s strikes are not expected to result in a full closure of a large number of schools, as the SSTA and NASUWT have far fewer members than the EIS, which represents about 80% of teachers.
Teachers’ unions want a 10 percent pay rise for all teachers, rather than a deal aimed at lower-paid workers.
The latest salary offer, presented last week, would have seen an increase of between 5% and 6.85% for teachers on the main teacher pay scale.
SNCT leader Des Morris said all unions representing Scottish teachers were “united in rejecting this totally unacceptable and divisive offer by COSLA and the Scottish Government”.
“The offer that we unanimously rejected today is neither credible nor fair, nor does it represent a tangible improvement over the previously rejected offer,” he added.
Under the terms of the latest offer, pay rises would be capped for those earning over £60,000 – mainly some leaders and MPs.
The so-called “differentiated” wage offer is a problem for the unions. While they want greater advancement for all of their members, they also want to maintain disparities between teachers at different grades – in part to ensure people want to accept promoted positions.
No formal talks between employers and teachers’ unions are currently planned.
Teachers are employed by the councils, but their working conditions are the same across Scotland. Councils receive much of their money from the Scottish Government and any salary offer must be affordable for both the Government and all 32 Scottish Councils.
The Scottish Government has argued that a bigger pay rise for teachers would mean cuts and savings elsewhere in the education budget.
If the dispute is not resolved, the EIS plans further strike action in January.
First there will be a nationwide strike spread over two days – one day primary schools and the other secondary schools will be attacked.
Then, on January 16, an ongoing strike program will begin. This ongoing program envisages strikes in elementary and secondary schools in two different boroughs, taking place every day for 16 consecutive school days. The first of these 24 hour strikes will take place in Glasgow and East Lothian.
During the EIS campaign in January and early February, each school will go on strike for two days. The union does not isolate itself from individual schools or districts as it did during the long-running teachers’ dispute in the mid-1980s.
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