Scottish Catholic Observer

Staff at St Andrew’s Secondary School and All Saints Secondary School in Glasgow, as well the non-denominational Eastbank Academy, will be the first to strike on November 23. The NASUWT teaching union will target small groups of schools across the country with day-long strikes.

It follows previous moves by NASUWT that stopped short of strikes.

Following the strike on November 23, further action will take place on November 30 at East Dunbartonshire schools Kirkintilloch High, Lenzie Academy and Bearsden Academy. Further strikes are due to be announced over the coming weeks, which will include primary schools in other local authorities.

“Teachers regret having to escalate actions and the disruption this will cause to pupils and parents,” NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said. “But more and more teachers are now saying that enough in enough and are ­reaching the end of their tether over workload, pay and other conditions.”

NASUWT national official for Scotland Jane Peckham also condemned the ‘increasing dysfunctionality of the negotiating machinery’ surrounding the pay and conditions for teachers.

The move has come as a surprise to the EIS, Scotland’s biggest teaching union.

“This proposed strike action by the smallest STUC-affiliated (Scottish Trades Union Congress) teacher trade union in Scotland is news to the EIS,” the union said in a statement. “Negotiations on this year’s pay settlement are ongoing through the SNCT (Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers), which includes representatives of all affiliated teacher trade unions in Scotland.”

The Scottish Government said the decision to strike was ‘not appropriate’ and ‘deeply disappointing.’