A former EIS president is taking the union to an employment tribunal in the first stage of an appeal against disciplinary procedures taken against him.
Peter Quigley from Kinghorn will attend a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, claiming decisions made by the union’s disciplinary committee were in breach of his human rights.
The presiding judge will determine whether Mr Quigley’s appeal can be heard by the tribunal in full session.
Mr Quigley who was EIS president from 2006 to 2007 is banned from holding any elected office in the organisation after he was stripped of office and prevented from attending the union’s meeting in Perth in June 2009.
The union had taken legal action against him preventing him from attending two meetings of the EIS council in 2008, as an internal investigation into complaints he had made was carried out.
He criticised EIS policy that the salary of its general secretary Ronnie Smith must be linked to that of Scottish headteachers and that he must be paid at least 12% more than the highest-paid headteacher in Scotland.
He also frequently alleged that salary increases to Mr Smith and his officials were never properly authorised by the EIS council nor recorded on any minutes.
Mr Quigley questioned whether this breached the EIS constitution and trade union law.
He then wrote to members criticising the money spent by the union on legal fees as they moved to bar him from the meetings in 2008 and claimed he was accused of fabricating his letter to look like an official EIS document which he still denies.
Mr Quigley claims he was also disciplined for threatening to write to the Queen alleging breaches of the EIS’s Royal Charter.
At a hearing last year the trade union certification officer David Cockburn ruled that the EIS had been correct to bring disciplinary procedures against Mr Quigley and to find him guilty of fabricating his letter.
Speaking to The Courier on Thursday, Mr Quigley said, “If Mr Cockburn’s ruling stands and I write to Her Majesty with concerns about my treatment and alleging breaches of the Royal Charter and constitution, particularly in financial matters, Ronnie Smith and the EIS can move to expel me from a union I have served loyally as a member for over 40 years, as Fife EIS secretary for 18 years, and as national president.”