TEACHERS in Scotland are to escalate strike action that would see schools shut after discussions yielded no new pay offer.
Scotland's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), set a date of 24 November for a strike.
It has now extended that so on January 10, it will call its primary, special schools and early years teacher members across Scotland to take another day of strike action.
The following day, on January 11, all EIS members in secondary and secondary special schools and all associated professionals, will be called to take a further day of strike action.
EIS said it comes after a meeting with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) Extended Joint Chairs on Wednesday afternoon at which no new offer was made.
Members of the union rejected a 5% pay offer, saying they wanted 10%.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “It is extremely disappointing that today’s meeting of the Extended Joint Chairs of the SNCT did not result in any new offer from (council body) COSLA and the Scottish Government.
"Instead, this meeting – requested at short notice by the Scottish Government – seems to have been called simply to make it appear as though talks are progressing.
"In fact, this meeting simply went round the houses in areas that have been covered many times before, with still no improvement to the 5% offer that Scotland’s teachers overwhelming rejected in a ballot some three months ago. Scotland’s’ teachers – and Scotland’s young people – deserve far better from COSLA and the Scottish Government.”
Members of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA) have also voted to go on strike to push for an improved pay offer.
A ballot saw 90% vote for strike action on a turnout of 62%.
SSTA officials said they are considering a strike for the week beginning December 5.
Trade union laws mean at least 14 days notice of a strike must be provided.
Last week education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said a teachers' strike was not inevitable.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney previously said there was no more money to fund public sector pay rises.
But the same was said by Mr Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon before £200m was found to fund pay rises for local authority workers in September, which allowed the lowest paid staff to get a pay increase of around 10 to 11% following the intervention of the First Minister.
Union leaders have previously warned Scots council leaders that frontline service cuts "won't be tolerated" after accepting the pay deal which end the dispute at the 11th hour that threatened to shut schools and waste disposal services.
Within days of the extra money being found, the Scottish Government said savings of £500m would have to be made.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the new pay agreements had led to a bill of £700m, which meant “taking money from elsewhere”.
The 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 said it had effectively provided an extra £120.6m additional capital annually to fund the increase in salaries. COSLA had initially offered workers two percent then 3.5% and then 5% – all rejected outright by Unite - before the revised offer on September 2 was tabled.
The pay deal came after councils told parents that schools and nurseries would be shutting in a matter of days as industrial action was due to spread to thousands of education staff in 13 council areas.
Ms Bradley added: “All EIS members in all of Scotland’s schools will be called upon to take strike action next week unless a fair pay offer is made in time.
"Following this, the EIS has allowed for a period of further negotiation up until the Christmas break, giving yet another opportunity for an agreement to be reached.
"Should no acceptable offer be received from employers by this time, our members will be called to take further strike action on two days in early January. The ball is very much in the court of COSLA and the Scottish Government – only an improved and acceptable offer can prevent strike action and an escalation to further action in this dispute.”
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