Union to ballot teachers on new pay offer

As reported by the BBC, the NASUWT teaching union says it will ballot members on a new offer to end the long-running pay dispute

It comes after the EIS, Scotland’s biggest teaching union, said on Friday it would suspend school strikes next week after receiving the improved deal. But NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said the offer was “paltry” and fell short of what teachers wanted.

The unions will consult their members on the proposal, which would give them a 14.6% pay rise over 28 months. It involves a seven per cent rise backdated to last April, a further five per cent this April and another two per cent in January.

The NASUWT union said its campaign of industrial action, including action short of strikes, would continue.

Dr Patrick Roach said: “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.

“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.”

Teachers had initially demanded a 10% increase this year, with the dispute seeing almost all schools in Scotland being closed by a series of strikes.

The new proposal follows talks earlier this week between the EIS, education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville and deputy first minister John Swinney and EIS general secretary, Andrea Bradley, said they would recommend that members accept the latest offer.

Targeted strike action by the EIS in specific Scottish parliament constituencies had been due to take place next week and the education secretary told BBC Scotland she was “delighted” that the EIS had postponed the strikes.

Ms Somerville said: “I don’t want to see any more disruption for our children and young people, particularly in the run up to exams.

“We’ve clearly tried to compromise as this is the sixth offer on the table. I’m delighted that the EIS will recommend this as an acceptance to their members.”

It cannot be taken for granted that teachers will accept the new pay offer as there has been a wide range of reaction from individual teachers on social media. Some believe the new offer is the best which might realistically be achieved at present while others believe action should continue.

What really matters though will be the outcomes of consultations by the unions with their members.

The EIS is by far the biggest union in Scottish education. The union is recommending that members accept the offer and their decision is likely to be known on Friday.

If EIS members accept the offer, it is likely to then be implemented by employers – even if some other unions, or a large chunk of the profession overall, might reject it. This is what happened with NHS pay in Scotland, but if the EIS rejects it, then widespread action will almost certainly continue.

And if a substantial proportion of teachers believe the action should continue the ramifications within education could prove significant.