Created on: 15 May 2023 | Last modified: 14 Sep 2023
We recently published the findings of an EIS Member Survey. The Survey has laid bare the health and wellbeing implications of current severe levels of teacher workload, chronic system underfunding and the impact of the current cost of living crisis on teachers and schools.
The survey covered four key themes: Workload, Additional Support for Learning, Health and Wellbeing, and the Cost of Living. The full survey report has been published, along with the first in a series of themed briefing papers, focusing on the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on teachers and on Education.
Action for Reps: Please make members aware of the Survey Report and briefing which is available online.
Consider holding a Branch meeting to discuss the relevance of the findings to your own workplace- particularly in preparation for Working Time Agreement discussions.
Please also pass on thanks from EIS HQ to any members in your Branch who participated in the survey.
We have reached the time in the year to negotiate school Working Time Agreements. Organising a branch meeting is a great way to bring EIS members together where they can discuss the key issues and timelines.
Contact your EIS Organiser about a Working Time Agreement branch meeting. Your EIS Organiser can support with this by attending and speaking on the Working Time Agreement or a specific topic of your choice.
Action for Reps: Contact your EIS organiser.
On Tuesday 2nd May, members of the EIS-FELA across Scotland’s 26 Further Education colleges began industrial action short of strike (ASOS) in pursuit of a fair pay award.
College lecturers should have received their pay award for 2022/23 in September 2022, however, negotiations have proved to be frustratingly slow. Currently, college employers have offered a rise of 7% over two years, split into a 3.5% uplift in each year. This offer was rejected by EIS-FELA negotiators as simply not enough with inflation running at 13.5% RPI and college lecturers having endured the winter of the cost-of-living crisis with no salary uplift.
The EIS-FELA membership is now engaging in a work to rule and resulting boycott. In relation to the work to rule. Such a step has not been taken lightly by members of the EIS-FELA, however, despite months of warnings, college employers have failed once again to show any urgency in avoiding another industrial dispute in the FE sector.
If ASOS proves unsuccessful in achieving a pay settlement, the EIS-FELA is committed to engaging in strike action in August and September, at the start of the new academic year in colleges.
Action for Reps: Please highlight the EIS-FELA dispute to members in your Branch and consider sending solidarity messages to your local FE College EIS Branch and/ or to the national body for sharing on the website and/ or send them directly via social media. Unity is strength!
Some independent schools choose not to recognise trade unions, despite high levels of union membership. The EIS will continue to push for recognition and representation to ensure that our members are treated fairly and are aware of their rights.
Action for Reps in Independent Schools: If you are concerned that members in your school are being treated unfairly or discriminated against, please contact your nearest Area Office in Dundee, Edinburgh or Glasgow. You will be put in contact with the relevant Area Officer for the local authority area in which you work.
More information can be found on the EIS website.
The EIS Branch of Hutcheson’s Grammar school has voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a recent statutory ballot over the school’s plan to withdraw them from the Scottish Teachers Pension Scheme- from a defined benefit scheme to a contribution scheme which would allow the employee and employer contributions to be less.
Action for Reps: Support the Hutcheson’s branch by sending messages of solidarity via social media and/ or send them to Area Officer Sarah Collins: scollins@eis.org.uk Twitter: @EISUnion
If you have an issue that you need help resolving contact your Local Association Secretary. EIS Local Associations also meet regularly to discuss local issues and members are welcome to attend and stand for positions on the committee of management.
Action for Reps: Go to the Local Association page to discover what meetings and events they are running over the coming months and how you and your members can get involved.
There may be current probationer teacher colleagues who have not joined the union. EIS membership is free for all current probationers until December 2023. After that, probationers can get a further 50% discount on full membership for the following nine months if they update their direct debit details with us by the end of their 17-month free period.
If probationers joined the EIS as a student then they should have updated their membership details, for example school details, at the start of their probationary year.
Previous Probationers – There may still be teachers in your school who are no longer in their probationary period but did not join at the end of their free membership (ended Dec 2022) please check and follow up, if they did not set up a direct debit with the EIS they are not members.
Action for Reps: Encourage current probationer teacher colleagues to join for free online today and speak to your colleagues who were previous Probationers about continuing their membership.
If you have new colleagues in your school who are EIS members, they should update their school base or personal contact details on the MyEIS section of the website.
Action for Reps: Remind new colleagues to log on using their EIS number. It is quick and simple to set up a password. Alternatively, as a Rep you should have access to member lists for your school and you can update details on their behalf.
Visit the website to update member details.
The EIS is committed to providing all members with high quality professional learning opportunities that support career-long professional development. As a member, any of the various training courses and professional learning seminars organised by the EIS are open to you. If you are interested in attending any of them, then please contact Rob Henthorn (rhenthorn@eis.org.uk) or Pauline McColgan (pmccolgan@eis.org.uk), EIS Professional Learning Coordinators, to register your interest.
Action For Reps: Visit the professional learning section of the EIS website for more information.
The informal EIS Equality Networks connects EIS members who are underrepresented in the profession and keeps them up to date with equality news and initiatives. These are informal spaces to meet others, make connections and find out more about the equality work of the EIS. The Networks’ discussion informs the EIS Equality Committee on equality issues, and thereby also gives members the chance to shape EIS policy.
EIS BAME Network – Date TBC - See the EIS website for more details
EIS LGBT Network – Date TBC - See the EIS website for more details
EIS Disabled Members’ Network – 17th May 2023, 4.30pm – 6.00pm
Action for Reps: Please share and display this flyer and promote these Network opportunities amongst members.