Strike closures of schools in Tayside and Fife are over as Scotland’s biggest teaching union accepted a pay offer.
The offer accepted by the EIS on Friday fell short of the union’s aspirations but will bring the highest earning head teachers’ pay – currently £99,609 – into six figures.
Around 80% of Scotland’s teachers are represented by the EIS and more two-day walkouts planned for local schools during March and April have now been called off.
Another union, the SSTA, accepted the increase on Thursday.
The deal means teachers will get:
- a 7% uplift from April 1, 2022
- a 5% uplift from April 1, 2023
- a 2% uplift from January 1, 2024.
It raises the salary of the lowest paid teachers – those in their probation year – from £28,113 to £31,584 from April and to £32,217 next January.
Teachers’ new salaries
New salary scales for teachers at other stages from January 2024 will be:
- Main grade – from £38,655 to £48,516
- Principal teachers – from £52,896 to £68,265
- Head and depute head teachers – from £59,994 to £110,808.
Some 82% of EIS members took part in a ballot on the pay offer from Cosla, and 90% voted to accept it.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “EIS members have taken a pragmatic decision in voting to accept the current pay offer.
“While it does not meet our aspirations in respect of a restorative pay settlement for Scotland’s teachers, it is the best deal that can realistically be achieved in the current political and financial climate without further prolonged industrial action.”
STOP PRESS: CONSULTATIVE BALLOT RESULT on SNCT PAY OFFER:
Accept: 90%
Reject: 10%
Turnout: 82%Pay offer will be accepted.
All strike action in pursuit of an improved teachers’ pay offer cancelled.
An email with more info will go to members ASAP.
— EIS (@EISUnion) March 10, 2023
Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville described the deal as “historic” and said: “A resolution to this dispute and an end to the threat of further strike disruption in our schools will be a huge relief for children, young people, parents, carers, and teachers, too.”
Welcoming the forthcoming settlement, Cosla resources spokesperson Councillor Katie Hagmann said: “This positive news means that there will be no further disruption to children and young people’s education, and will be welcomed by teachers, parents and carers across Scotland.”
Another union Nasuwt Scotland is still consulting on the offer, which it has described as “paltry”, while the school leaders union AHDS has said it intends to accept.
School strikes over
The next strikes were due to hit Angus schools next Monday to Tuesday, Dundee schools from next Friday to the following Tuesday, Fife schools from April 17 to 18 and Perth and Kinross from April 19 to 21. Teachers in primary schools and secondary schools would have been called out on two of the dates each.
Schools in Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross have closed several times as a result of industrial action involving the EIS, SSTA, Nasuwt Scotland and AHDS unions.
Those in Dunfermline and Perthshire North were hit by additional three-day closures in February, as the constituencies of Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville were targeted.
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