Colleagues
It has been another busy week for the Pay Attention campaign!
For the avoidance of doubt, no new offer has been forthcoming from COSLA/Scottish
Government. We continue to apply the pressure towards this.
That said, there are some important updates.
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Meeting of the EIS Salaries Committee
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The Salaries Committee met yesterday afternoon and agreed that EIS negotiators would attend a meeting of the Extended Joint Chairs on Wednesday 14th December.
It is not expected that any new offer will be brought to this meeting by the employers’ side but the EIS remains committed to taking every opportunity possible to progress our dispute towards a satisfactory resolution.
At the meeting we will underline the urgency of a new offer coming forward timeously before the holidays, if strike action in January is to be averted.
Of course, we have to be hopeful of this but given the lack of urgency shown by employers and the Scottish Government so far, we anticipate that the January action will go ahead and we continue to prepare for that, with a view to ensuring the same display of strike-strength as we did on November 24th. Further information regarding this will follow soon.
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Display of Strong Solidarity with Striking SSTA and NASUWT Colleagues
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Colleagues from SSTA and NASUWT took strike action on two days across local authority areas on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
The EIS took a robust stance against COSLA's anti-trade union tactics and wrote to all local authorities issuing a warning not to follow the COSLA advice to put pressure on and threaten EIS members to strike-break and undermine the action of sister trade unions.
EIS members can be proud of the way that they demonstrated their solidarity with striking colleagues - on snowy picket lines, on social media and by not covering their classes.
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Co-ordination of Teacher Union Strikes in the New Year
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Meetings with other unions this week confirmed that SSTA, NASUWT and AHDS are keen to co-ordinate with the next phase of EIS strike action in January.
It is hoped that there will be clarity by the end of next week that those unions will join the EIS for that second cycle of action in the New Year.
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STUC Scotland Demands Better Pre-budget Demonstration at the Scottish Parliament
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Ahead of the Scottish budget due on Thursday 15th December, the STUC published a piece of independent research that it had commissioned which highlights how the Scottish Government could utilise tax raising powers in the short, medium and longer term, to raise revenue to better fund public services and public sector pay. The research and summary can be found here.
Following on from this, a demonstration took place outside the Scottish Parliament, with rally speeches being led by teacher unions, including the EIS, calling upon the Scottish Government to work with COSLA to bring forth a new, fair offer to teachers ahead of the Christmas holidays. The full EIS demo speech can be found here.
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Campaign Christmas Parties
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From today, Campaign Christmas party packs will be arriving in your schools, addressed to Reps. These are to support the continuation of the campaign throughout the month of December as we build for the next phase of strike action. We want you to have some festive fun as you write Christmas postcards with key campaign messages to Ministers, local MSPs (especially SNP and Greens) and local Councillors (especially SNP and Greens).
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National Demo: Save the Date - March 4th in Glasgow
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We are planning for a national demo in pursuit of our pay campaign, to take place in Glasgow on Saturday, March 4th. The national demo is for all members and supporters. We are planning to assemble in Kelvingrove Park at 10.30am and march to a rally from there – more details to follow.
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