MINISTERS have been accused of "insulting teachers" by waiting for strike action to shut Scotland's schools before pushing for negotiations on an improved pay deal.

Concerns have been raised over a failure to improve a 5% offer to teachers since August 19 - two weeks before an improved offer of up to 10% was given to council staff, including education workers, at the 11th hour to stave off imminent school closures and bin strikes.

Scotland’s biggest teaching union EIS yesterday issued formal notices of strike ballots to all 32 of the country's local authorities.

The latest move could see the closure of schools this autumn if an agreement between unions and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the governing body for local authorities, is not reached.

It comes a matter of days after unions representing council staff accepted a revised pay offer from COSLA helped with a further £200m-a-year taxpayer cash injection.

Sources say that COSLA increased the pay pot from Scotland's 250,000 local authority workers from around £400m to £600m at the 11th hour allowing the lowest paid staff to get a pay increase of around 10% following the intervention of the First Minister.

A Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association source said: "Unfortunately, the threat of strike action seems to be the only thing COSLA and Scottish Government take seriously. This brinkmanship is insulting to teachers, parents and young people. It really shows how undervalued teachers are. All the work teachers did during the pandemic has all been forgotten.

"Teachers don’t want to go on strike but they will to get a fair and just settlement. Grown-up negotiations is long overdue. This pay settlement was due on April 1."

Last month, the SSTA revealed its members had also rejected the 5% pay deal, with the majority saying they would back strike action without an improved deal.

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The source added: "Teachers are determined to get a fair deal and are prepared to take strike action. Closing schools is the only way that COSLA and the Scottish Government will be forced to negotiate."

The Scottish Government says it is "absolutely committed" to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers.

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) which represents eight out of ten teachers in Scotland previously voted by 91% to move for strike action over pay and conditions in a consultative ballot last month.

Some 94% of those taking part rejected the 5% pay offer put forward by the local authority body, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).

EIS confirmed that a formal notice of a statutory strike ballot for teachers will open on Wednesday, October 12.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “The issuing of the formal ballot notices, as required by law, marks a further serious warning to Scotland’s local authorities and the Scottish Government that they must improve their pay offer to teachers or face up to the reality of strike action closing schools across Scotland this autumn.”

Ms Bradley added: “Teachers do not consider the prospect of taking strike action lightly, but our members are deeply angry at the continuing dragging of feet and the series of sub-inflationary pay offers that have brought us to this point.

“Teachers are highly skilled professionals who perform a vital job which is crucial to the entire country, and they fully deserve to be paid appropriately for the essential work that they do. The message from EIS members could not be clearer – pay us properly, or we will strike in schools across the length and breadth of Scotland.”

The council staff pay deal which threatened to shut schools and waste disposal services came after months of tough talking.

Taxpayers were forced to foot a further £200m every year to fund the huge council staff pay rise.

Within days the Scottish Government said savings of £500m would have to be made in the following the pay awards.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the new pay agreements had led to a bill of £700m, which meant “taking money from elsewhere”.

Union sources said the local authority group COSLA increased the pay pot from Scotland's 250,000 local authority workers from around £400m to £600m at the 11th hour allowing the lowest paid staff to get a pay increase of around 10% following the intervention of the First Minister.

That dispute saw piles of rubbish build up in city centres as waste workers went on strike.

The Scottish Government was originally only providing an extra £140m of funding on a recurring basis to support an original pay offer - while COSLA was to come up with the extra £260m.

The Scottish Government is now effectively providing an extra £120.6m additional capital annually to fund the increase in salaries. COSLA had initially offered workers two percent then 3.5 percent and then five percent – all rejected outright by Unite - before the revised offer on September 2 was tabled.

Workers at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) had been due to carry out a series of strikes but this action was suspended following a new pay offer.

The SQA said its new offer would mean an overall average consolidated increase of 5.9%, excluding pay progression.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Strikes are in no one’s interest – least of all for pupils, parents and carers who have already faced significant disruption over the past three years.

"This Government has a strong record of support for teachers and are proud to have the best paid workforce of anywhere in the UK. It is disappointing that unions have rejected the latest pay offer. Accepting the offer of 5% would have meant that teachers received a cumulative pay increase of 21.8% since 2018.

“The Cabinet Secretary holds regular meetings with all teachers’ unions to discuss a range of issues, including pay. These meetings have taken place over the last two weeks.

“We are absolutely committed to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers, the body that negotiates teachers’ pay and conditions of service.

“It is for local authorities, as the employer, to make a revised pay offer.”

A COSLA spokesman said: “Scottish Local Government values its entire workforce including teachers. The offer being made is one that not only can be afforded with the additional monies being provided, but critically enables councils to protect education services and those other services that support its effective running. "Along with Scottish Government we are disappointed that the teaching unions have rejected it. Accepting the offer of 5% would have meant that teachers received a cumulative pay increase of 21.8% since 2018.

"For example, a teacher on point 5 of the main grade scale would have seen their annual salary increase from £36,480 at the start of 2018 to £44,454 from 1/4/2022.”