Teachers in Scotland to go on strike this month

Teachers in Scotland will stage a 24-hour walkout on 24 November after voting overwhelmingly to strike in a dispute over pay.

Members of the EIS union rejected a 5% pay offer, saying they wanted 10%.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said they had become "increasingly angry over their treatment" by employers and the Scottish government.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney previously said there was no more money to fund public sector pay rises.

The move comes after Scotland's largest nursing union voted to go on strike for the first time ever in a dispute over pay.

The EIS said 96% of its members backed a teachers' strike on a 71% turnout.

It will hold a further executive meeting on Friday to agree further industrial action.

General secretary Andrea Bradley said: "We hoped not to get to this point, and have given local authorities and the Scottish government ample time to come up with a fair pay offer.

"But, with a pay-rise for teachers now more than seven months late and with the last pay offer having been rejected by teachers almost three months ago, the blame for this move to strike action sits squarely with Cosla and the Scottish government."

John Swinney announced £615m of spending cuts in his emergency budget review earlier this month.

It came on top of £560m cuts to public services in September.

The Scottish government said it was "committed to supporting a fair pay offer" through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers - the body that negotiates pay and conditions of service.

But the EIS accused the government of "dithering and delaying" while the cost of living crisis "continues to erode the value of their pitiful offers to Scotland's teachers".

"Teachers do not take strike action lightly," said Andrea Bradley, "but have voted to do so in light of the continuing steep real-terms decline in their pay.

"Politicians who have lauded the invaluable work of teachers throughout the pandemic and during the ongoing period of recovery are now offering teachers a deep real-terms pay cut.

"This will never be acceptable to Scotland's teachers or to the EIS, and that is why Scotland's teachers will be taking strike action two weeks from today."

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Scottish government recognised "the vital importance of reaching a fair and affordable resolution on pay, both for the workforce during a cost of living crisis, and for the pupils and parents".

"Strikes in our schools are in no-one's interest," she said, "least of all for pupils, parents and carers who have already faced significant disruption over the past three years."

The Scottish Conservatives said the blame for the teachers' strike "lies squarely" with Ms Somerville.

The Tories' education spokesman Stephen Kerr said: "The threat of strike action has been looming for months yet the education secretary failed to get round the table and ensure a solution was found.

"Pupils missing yet more classroom time is the last thing they need after the disruption they had to endure during the pandemic."

Scottish Labour's education spokesman Michael Marra said "years of SNP mismanagement and neglect" were at the root of the strike action.

He added: "Teachers have been going above and beyond to deliver the education recovery children and young people so badly need, and this should be recognised.

"No-one wants strikes in schools, but pupils and teachers alike are being failed by the SNP's catastrophic lack of leadership."