Secondary school teachers vote to strike

Members of a secondary school teaching union have voted to go on strike to push for an improved pay offer.

A ballot of Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) members saw 90% vote for strike action on a turnout of 62%.

It comes after Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, set a date of November 24 for its own strike.

SSTA officials said they are considering a strike for the week beginning December 5.

Trade union laws mean at least 14 days notice of a strike must be provided.

SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said: “The result is very good, we’re pleased with the return that we got.

“It just shows the frustration of teachers.

“We’ve been trying to get this resolved since the beginning of the year.

“We haven’t had a proper conversation about pay since August.”

Speaking last week, Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said a teachers’ strike was not inevitable.

She said: “As a Scottish Government, we’re absolutely determined to see what we can do, to see if there’s additional funding that we can provide to Cosla to allow Cosla as the employers to provide an enhanced pay offer.

“I very much hope teachers would be able to look at that offer, take it to its members and we could not have industrial action.

“The industrial action is not inevitable and I would absolutely urge, as we’ve done with all the trade union colleagues today, to keep up that constructive dialogue and make sure we’re doing everything we can to avoid that.”