Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

It’s not just Dundee – teachers across Scotland could also strike, but why?

EIS held a rally in Dundee under their #PayAttention campaign, which could see Scotland's teachers strike.
EIS held a rally in Dundee under their #PayAttention campaign, which could see Scotland's teachers strike.

If you’ve been following our coverage recently, it’s likely you will know that secondary teachers in Dundee look set to strike next week.

But you might not be aware that teachers across the country could also be striking in October, on a separate cause.

While these matters are unrelated, some teachers in Dundee may choose to strike on both issues, if industrial action is agreed on the national front.

What is the possible Scotland teacher strike about?

Teachers across Scotland are asking for a 10% pay rise for 2022-2023, under the #PayAttention campaign.

Organised by teaching union Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the campaign states the increase is needed to offset soaring inflation and the cost of living crisis.

And in recognition of teachers’ ‘heroic delivery’ of education during the pandemic, when they were essential workers.

The EIS also claims that excessive workload is ‘causing burn-out and turning good people off teaching’ and that teachers need be ‘fairly rewarded’ for the work that they do.

A rally in support of the campaign was held in Dundee on Saturday, with future demos planned for Edinburgh and Glasgow.

EIS rally in Dundee for the union’s #PayAttention campaign, which could see Scotland teachers strike.

Hundreds of teachers gathered outside Caird Hall, including Graeme Keir, who is an English teacher in Fife.

Graeme, who is also rep for Fife’s EIS branch, said: “It’s proving difficult to recruit and retain teachers, especially in some parts of Fife, as the real value of our wages has declined over the last few years.

“At the same time the stress of the job has increased due to the impact of the pandemic and the cuts to school and additional support needs budgets.

“We need a fair pay settlement for teachers in order to safeguard the quality of education in Scotland and Fife.”

When could a national strike happen?

Those at EIS backing the campaign are currently circling a petition in support of the campaign.

Launched on June 1, the petition will end on Monday, when it will be handed over to COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and the Scottish Government.

The following day a meeting will take place between EIS and COSLA for further discussions on the issue.

If an agreement cannot be reached at that stage, EIS plans to run a ballot amongst its members asking for industrial action in October.

Why does the EIS feel strike could be necessary?

The pay claim for all teachers and associated professionals was supposed to cover this working year, 2022-2023.

It was submitted in February with a settlement date of April 2022. Three months later, in mid-May, COSLA offered a 2% pay uplift and it was immediately rejected.

The EIS says ‘procrastination’ from the employers side was seen last year when a pay settlement for the year 2021-2022 was only delivered in April 2022 – more than a year late.

It has signalled this approach will not be accepted again this year.

Conversation