Two days of school closures are likely in the new year with more teacher strikes affecting schools in Dundee, Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross.
The Educational Institute of Scotland has announced 16 days of action, with a 24-hour walkout in each local authority area on different dates in January and February.
This is in addition to strike dates it has already declared for January 10 for primary teachers and January 11 for secondary teachers.
School closures are yet to be confirmed by local authorities, but 80% of Scotland’s teachers are members of the EIS and the union says its first strike on Thursday closed every state school in the mainland.
The new dates for each council area in Tayside and Fife are as follows:
- Perth and Kinross – Tuesday January 17
- Fife – Wednesday January 18
- Angus – Friday January 20
- Dundee – Thursday February 2
The EIS is campaign for a 10% pay rise and general secretary Andrea Bradley said members responded “magnificently” to Thursday’s day of action, turning out in their tens of thousands on picket lines.
She said: “The EIS will move ahead with our previously announced two additional days of national strike action in January.
“We can also now confirm that Scotland’s teachers will strike on sixteen consecutive days in January and February, with teachers in two local authorities on strike on each of these sixteen days.
“We have been forced into the escalation of this action by the lack of willingness to negotiate properly and to pay teachers properly, by a government that says it wished to be judged on its record on education.
“The judgement of Scotland’s teachers on the matter of pay is clear, with the first programme of national strike action that we have engaged in for four decades. It is now for the Scottish Government and Cosla to resolve this dispute, and prevent further strike action, by coming back to the negotiating table with a substantially improved pay offer for all of Scotland’s teaching professionals.”
Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross councils all said they were aware of the latest dates and considering the impact and implications for schools.
Dundee City Council said it was monitoring the situation and will keep families informed.
Teachers’ pay
Local government body Cosla said its fourth offer for teachers of 6.85% extra for probationers and over 5% for those on lower to middle parts of the pay scale was “fair and affordable”.
Councillor Katie Hagmann, its resources spokesperson, said: “Teachers in Scotland are already paid well above their counterparts in England and Wales, as made clear by UK Government figures, and indeed many of their colleagues in local government.
“The response of our trade union partners is disappointing given the financial challenges facing everybody, but we remain open to having open and honest conversations about how we can reach a viable and realistic settlement that protects the best interests of teacher, children and young people and our wider communities.”
Meanwhile, two other teaching unions, the NASUWT and SSTA, are to strike on December 7 and 8. Widespread school closures are not expected on these dates.
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