Created on: 22 Jul 2025 | Last modified: 26 Aug 2025
Community Trade Union
Community fully supports the proposals to reduce class contact time to 21 hours and are frustrated that there has been no movement on this from the SNCT.
We know that 94% of staff cite workload as an issue in their school and that there is an excessive hours culture, with too many working 50-60 hours per week.
Community have highlighted that working long hours is a health and safety issue with 1 in 9 adults in the UK experiencing high levels of stress that contribute to them taking time off work. If we want a strong and secure workforce that has the drive and energy to care for all our children, then we need to take action to reduce workload.
Community stands alongside EIS in their efforts to move this conversation forward.
Dundee Trades Union Council
Dundee Trades Union Council has learnt that the EIS is engaging in a consultative ballot of its members for industrial action in pursuit of the SNCT dispute on reducing weekly class contact time to 21 hours.
We support your campaign and wish you every success in your ballot.
Public and Commercial Services Union
We stand united with EIS members as they take a vital step toward challenging the unsustainable workloads facing Scotland’s teaching professionals. Reducing weekly class contact time to 21 hours—alongside safeguarding the 1.5 hours needed for essential preparation and correction—is not just a demand, but a long-overdue necessity for meaningful change.
Your ballot reflects years of little progress, and it signals a collective call for respect, sustainability, and support for those who shape our children’s futures. Fair working conditions for educators are a cornerstone of a just and effective education system. We wish you well in your consultative ballot.
North Lanarkshire Trade Union Council
North Lanarkshire Trade Union Council has heard from our delegates, over preceding months and years, the ongoing impact of unmanageable workloads on our teachers.
We stand in complete solidarity with EIS members as they grasp this key opportunity to challenge the balance between contact time and preparation time. Addressing unsustainable workloads is crucial not only to teachers in their mental and physical wellbeing, but to our children, their quality of education, and their futures.
University and College Union
UCU Scotland sends solidarity to EIS members taking part in the ongoing consultative ballot on industrial action in the SNCT dispute. UCU members know the time required to deliver quality teaching and learning, and stand fully behind EIS members in this dispute. Workload is an issue throughout education and by taking a stand EIS members will send a strong signal to employers in schools and elsewhere that quality education needs educators to have sufficient time to do the job.
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
On behalf of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT Union) I am writing to you to express our unwavering solidarity with members and representatives of Educational Institute of Scotland during your fight to reduce class contact time.
RMT fully supports your campaign to reduce weekly class contact time to 21 hours to increase weekly preparation and correction time and reduce unsustainable workloads. Teachers and educators are the backbone of our communities and RMT Union stands shoulder to shoulder with you at this time.