Teachers plan to strike again next week

January 17, 2023 5:08 pm

The council’s Acting Head of Schools and Lifelong Learning, Lorna French, has written to all parents and carers today advising of arrangements during the planned strike by teachers on 25 January.

Primary schools will be closed all day.
Secondary schools will be closed unless there is a local arrangement for pupils taking assessments. Secondary Headteachers will be in touch with pupils, parents and carers about local arrangements.
Special schools will be closed except Gorgie Mills and Prospect Bank which will be partly open.
Contingency learning is available on the council website at this link
Free School Meal payments will be sent out by the council to eligible families
Out of School care – enquire locally about arrangements

There is further planned action by EIS members including two days in all schools on 28 February and 1 March, and then a rolling programme of strikes between 13 March and 21 April.

At present the EIS Union is undertaking rolling strike action over 16 days as the pay dispute continues. This means that every single day there will be strikes in two out of the 32 local authorities in Scotland and Edinburgh and Ayrshire are both set to be affected by strike action on 25 January.

EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “The start of this 16-day programme of strike action is another clear message to the Scottish Government and COSLA that they must improve their pay offer to Scotland’s teachers.

“EIS members have already taken three days of national strike action across Scotland, and today’s escalation of strike action is a direct consequence of the failure of the Scottish Government and COSLA to negotiate a fair pay offer to Scotland’s teaching professionals.

Ms Bradley added, “Teachers do not want to be on strike, but are taking strike action as a last resort in their pursuit of a fair pay deal. For the best part of a year, the Scottish Government and COSLA have dragged the process out while offering deep real-terms pay cuts to Scotland’s teachers. There has been no significant movement in the offer for the past six months, which has forced teachers into this programme of strike action.

“It is time for the Scottish Government and COSLA to come back with a meaningful, new and sufficiently improved offer – that is the only way this dispute can be settled.”