Teachers to be reballoted after turnout means EIS fails to win strike mandate

Scotland’s largest teaching union is to reballot members as part of a dispute over “excessive” workloads – with the union also hitting out at “restrictive” laws which meant it failed to win a mandate for strike action.

A total of 85.9% of EIS members who voted backed strike action, but with less than 47% of members taking part in the vote, it cannot go ahead with industrial action.

Current UK laws require at least half of all union members to take part in a ballot before action can take place, and EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the result was “disappointing”.

She said despite “very strong” numbers being in favour of industrial action, “our ballot has fallen victim to a highly restrictive element of trade union legislation that is soon to be repealed”.

She added that while legislation passed by the Labour Westminster Government would “remove many of the more restrictive elements of trade union law”, the current “excessively strict thresholds that are a lingering legacy of the previous UK government” remain in place.

A special meeting of the EIS executive body on Thursday agreed teachers will be balloted again on the issue, with Ms Bradley stressing the need to “reduce excessive teacher workload”.

She said local government organisation Cosla and the Scottish Government had “made promises to Scotland’s teachers and pupils that action would be taken to employ additional teachers, reduce teachers’ class contact time, cut teacher workload and create a better working environment for teachers and pupils alike”.

She added: “We cannot let the politicians off the hook on their promises and we cannot take our collective foot off the gas in our workload campaign.”

She insisted it was “no coincidence” that the recent Scottish Budget saw Finance Secretary Shona Robison make “specific reference to additional money going to local authorities to enable the class contact time promise to be met”.

The EIS entered into a formal dispute with the Scottish Government and Cosla in February last year over the failure to deliver a commitment made in the 2021 SNP manifesto to cut teachers’ classroom time.

Ms Bradley declared: “We must keep the pressure on and we must ask our members to vote again on industrial action, and in even greater numbers, to ensure that we can hold the politicians to account and continue to demand that, at last, they deliver on their own promises to Scottish education, its pupils and its teachers.”

A Cosla spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that the EIS will be seeking to reballot their members.

“Industrial action is in nobody’s interests, and we urge unions to work with Cosla and Scottish Government rather that threaten to disrupt education at this crucial time of year.

“We recognise that supporting teachers is essential. However, this needs to be facilitated in a way that ensures a positive impact on outcomes for children and young people.

“Cosla remains committed to constructive engagement with the Scottish Government and teaching unions through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers on the implementation of the ministerial commitment to reduce class contact time.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.