Teaching union NASUWT rejects pay deal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34226220

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A teaching union has rejected a two-year deal which would see Scottish teachers being given a 1.5% pay rise this year and a 1% rise next year.

The NASUWT rejected the offer as inadequate and unacceptable.

Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, is balloting members over the offer, recommending approval, while the SSTA have "reluctantly" accepted it.

A Cosla spokesman said it was a good offer and the organisation looked forward to the final decision.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said there was "overwhelming support" to reject the offer.

"The offer does not make any progress towards restoring teachers' pay to pre-2011 levels, despite the fact that teachers are thousands of pounds worse off as a result of the year-on-year real-terms cuts to their salaries," she said.

"The offer fails to address the full restoration of supply teachers' pay and conditions, with the employer instead opting for a delaying tactic rather than recognising that the main solution to improving availability of supply cover is to fully restore supply teachers' pay and conditions immediately."

'Deeply worrying'

She said excessive workload remained the chief concern of members and said schools and employers should be putting effective strategies in place to tackle the issue.

"The offer will also not address the deeply worrying trend of teacher shortages, to which pay and workload are continuing factors," she added.

The Cosla spokesman said: "I am not going to comment on the decision of every trade union individually. What I can say is that this is a good offer and we look forward to the final decision of the teachers' side when the ballot closes."

As part of the proposed deal, a letter will go out to councils confirming that they can choose to pay supply teachers at the full daily rate from the first day of their work.

Some councils have experienced shortages of supply teachers - with critics claiming one reason for this is that they are paid less for short engagements.

There would also be a written commitment on attempting to manage teachers' workload.

This year's pay rise would also be backdated to April.

The offer covers teachers employed by councils, including Glasgow, which are no longer members of the council umbrella body Cosla.