I have written to the Cabinet Secretary for Education raising concerns over the ongoing teacher’s pay dispute and the industrial action from EIS and other teaching unions across Scotland.
I am asking the Scottish Government to get back to the table with COSLA and the teaching unions and offer a fair pay settlement to avoid strike action across schools on February 28th and March 1st.
Further rolling strike action is also planned across March and April if no resolution is reached.
I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary about the pay dispute last year after teachers were offered an insulting real-terms pay cut despite the incredible work they have been doing for our children through a period of intense upheaval.
The failure by the Scottish Government and COSLA to offer teachers a fair pay settlement in recognition of the work they do simply compounds the erosion in the value of teachers’ salaries at a time when more and more was being asked of our teachers. This is at the same time of increased cost-of-living pressures and against a backdrop of a real-terms deterioration in the value of teachers’ pay since 2010.
Across the region parents tell me of their worry of the impact of Covid on their children’s education so to now compound those fears with more days lost is just unacceptable and is why I am calling on Shirley Anne Somerville to do her job and find a resolution to this dispute before more damage is done. The Education Secretary seems to be deluding herself that she is not responsible, so I am calling for her to do her job or move on and let someone get the job that will take responsibility and find a solution to the strikes.
We need urgent intervention and action by the Scottish Government to ensure the continued support of teachers in securing an education recovery which works for pupils and for the country as a whole. However, the Scottish Government have attempted to dismiss any responsibility in the dispute, hiding behind saying it is simply a matter ‘for local government, as the employer, to make any revised offer of pay’.
Surely anyone will be asking if education is still the number one priority for the Scottish Government? It is clear a better offer is needing to be brought to the table to avert strike action. It is imperative that the Scottish Government and COSLA now bring a serious offer to teaching unions in recognition not only of the incredible hard work their members undertake, but also to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis that teaching staff are facing at the same time as record excessive workloads.
