London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

Teachers' strike in Scotland to go ahead as new pay offer rejected

Teachers' strike in Scotland to go ahead as new pay offer rejected

Scotland's biggest union of teachers will take industrial action on Thursday after a new pay offer was dismissed as "insulting".

Employer Cosla made the fresh proposal which will see rises of up to 6.85%.

It was an improvement on the previous offer of 5% but still well below the 10% the unions want.

The strike by members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will lead to the closure of most schools in Scotland.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville believed the offer was fair and recognised that the "cost of living crisis is the priority".

Under this latest proposal teachers earning less than £40,107 would receive an extra £1,926 a year - equivalent to a 6.86% uplift for the lowest paid.

Those in the top two bands were being offered a 5% uplift, with those on £60,000 or more receiving no more than £3,000.

Ahead of the new offer being made, the education secretary told the Scottish Parliament that the 10% demand by teacher representatives was "unaffordable" for the Scottish government.



The EIS said its salaries committee unanimously rejected the offer in a special online meeting on Tuesday.

Its general secretary Andrea Bradley said it was a "divisive offer...which is actually worse for many teachers in promoted posts".

"Our members will see this offer for exactly what it is - a kick in the teeth from their employers and the Scottish government," she added.

"This afternoon's salaries committee expressed outrage at this offer, and that outrage is sure to be replicated in staffrooms across Scotland today and tomorrow.

"Our programme of strike action, which will commence as scheduled on Thursday, will clearly show the strength of feeling of Scotland's teachers who will be out in numbers and with strong voice on picket lines and at regional rallies."


Angry and demoralised


A spokesman for the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), which is planning a strike on 7 and 8 December, described it as a "very disappointing offer".

"The unions have been led down the garden path by Cosla and the Scottish government and tell us they care about teachers and value their commitment over the last few years," the spokesman said.

"This offer will not go down well with teachers and I would expect the planned strikes to go ahead. Maybe they will listen to parents and children as they are not listening to teachers."

Meanwhile a third teachers' union - the NASUWT - says its members have voted for strike action, which will take place on 7 and 8 December.

They will take action short of strike action from 9 December, refusing to cover for absent colleagues and attending no more than one meeting per week outside pupil sessions.

Mike Corbett, the union's national official Scotland, said: "Our members are angry, demoralised and have had enough.

"They are sick of being expected to put up with declining wages while working ever harder to meet the increasing challenges being faced in our schools. They are facing increasing financial hardship with more teachers having to cut back on basic necessities."

Shirley-Anne Somerville says the teachers' pay demands are unaffordable


Cosla, the umbrella body for Scotland's 32 councils, had called on the EIS to postpone Thursday's strike.

Spokeswoman Katie Hagmann said: "We have worked extremely hard and closely with Scottish government to ensure such a revised offer could be brought forward and made today.

"I would call on our trade union colleagues to recognise that these are extremely challenging financial times we are operating in and we all need to make decisions with a full understanding of the consequences.

She added that it was is "in line with offers made to all other parts of the public sector".

Meanwhile the Scottish Conservatives were highly critical of the education secretary's role in the negotiations with teaching unions.

"It should never have reached the stage where the SNP Government were scrambling around at the eleventh hour trying to strike a deal with teachers, and it's no surprise that this last-gasp offer has been rejected," Stephen Kerr, the party's education spokesman said.

"Shirley-Anne Somerville has been missing in action as strikes have loomed large for months...The whole saga has shown that Shirley-Anne Somerville lacks the leadership required to resolve disputes satisfactorily."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×