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| Teachers to hold rolling strikes across Scotland next year | Teachers to hold rolling strikes across Scotland next year |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Teachers in Scotland will strike on a further 16 days in a dispute over pay, a union has confirmed. | Teachers in Scotland will strike on a further 16 days in a dispute over pay, a union has confirmed. |
| The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the consecutive days of action - split across every council in the country - would take place in January and February next year. | The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the consecutive days of action - split across every council in the country - would take place in January and February next year. |
| Teachers in two local authorities will strike on each of the 16 days. | Teachers in two local authorities will strike on each of the 16 days. |
| The union's general secretary Andrea Bradley said members had been "forced to escalate" measures. | The union's general secretary Andrea Bradley said members had been "forced to escalate" measures. |
| A strike on Thursday closed nearly every primary and secondary school in the country, and many council nurseries. | A strike on Thursday closed nearly every primary and secondary school in the country, and many council nurseries. |
| A revised pay offer put to unions on Tuesday was rejected as "insulting". | A revised pay offer put to unions on Tuesday was rejected as "insulting". |
| Call for negotiation | |
| But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said their demand for a 10% pay rise was "unaffordable". | But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said their demand for a 10% pay rise was "unaffordable". |
| A new pay offer from employer Cosla - which would see rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest paid - was fair, Ms Somerville said. | |
| The EIS had already announced further action on 10 and 11 January, with the latest dates taking place between 16 January and 6 February. | The EIS had already announced further action on 10 and 11 January, with the latest dates taking place between 16 January and 6 February. |
| A list of councils and their corresponding strike dates has been published here. | |
| Hundreds of teachers joined a rally outside the Scottish Parliament as part of the national strike over pay | |
| Ms Bradley said: "We have been forced into the escalation of this action by the lack of willingness to negotiate properly and to pay teachers properly, by a government that says it wished to be judged on its record on education. | Ms Bradley said: "We have been forced into the escalation of this action by the lack of willingness to negotiate properly and to pay teachers properly, by a government that says it wished to be judged on its record on education. |
| "The judgement of Scotland's teachers on the matter of pay is clear, with the first programme of national strike action that we have engaged in for four decades. | "The judgement of Scotland's teachers on the matter of pay is clear, with the first programme of national strike action that we have engaged in for four decades. |
| "It is now for the Scottish government and Cosla to resolve this dispute, and prevent further strike action, by coming back to the negotiating table with a substantially improved pay offer for all of Scotland's teaching professionals." | "It is now for the Scottish government and Cosla to resolve this dispute, and prevent further strike action, by coming back to the negotiating table with a substantially improved pay offer for all of Scotland's teaching professionals." |
| What is the pay dispute about? | |
| Unions had rejected earlier pay offers of 5% before employer Cosla made its new offer on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to delay the strike. | |
| It offered all teachers on the main pay scales either a 5% pay rise or a £1,926 increase in their salary - whichever resulted in the greatest increase in their annual salary. | |
| However, the uplift was capped at £3,000 for those earning more than £60,000. | |
| The EIS said this was unfair on people earning higher salaries who would receive a pay rise worth less than 5%. | |
| Only the 20% of teachers earning less than about £40,107 would see their salary increase by more than 5%, the union added. |