Scotland’s largest teaching union has said there will be industrial action in schools this year unless teachers are given significant pay rises.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), which represents more than 80% of the country’s teachers, said it wanted the Scottish government and councils to fund an above-inflation pay rise, ending nearly a decade of pay freezes and caps.

Larry Flanagan, the EIS general secretary, said: “For far too long, teachers have been paying the price of austerity-driven cuts prompted by a financial situation that was not of their making. [The] policy of austerity and the decision to cut teachers’ pay were political choices, and were not born of necessity.”

Flanagan’s warning will intensify pressure on Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, to increase the government’s grant to local authorities to help fund a teachers’ pay award, after repeated cuts to council financing.

Mackay made political capital from a decision in his draft budget in December to increase public sector pay by 3% for the lowest paid and 2% for those earning above £30,000, but unions have argued that his proposal is unfunded.

Under his draft budget, year-on-year funding for Scottish councils will be cut by £135m in real terms from April. Mackay already faces demands from the Scottish Green party for at least £150m in extra funding in order to win the Green votes his minority government needs to get the budget passed at Holyrood.

The Convention for Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), an umbrella organisation for most councils, insists it needs a further £545m in order to properly fund local services after previous government cuts, on top of the £135m being lost in the draft budget.



The public sector union Unison, which is also highly critical of the budget, said funding the 2-3% pay deal for local government workers, excluding teachers, would cost councils £210m.

The NASUWT, the smallest teachers’ union in Scotland, attempted a series of strikes in a handful of schools over pay in December, but dropped them after legal action by Glasgow city council and an offer of talks by East Dunbartonshire.

Flanagan cited a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which found that Scottish teachers earned 82% less than similar professionals with university degrees. In contrast with most other OECD members states, where pay increased, teachers’ pay in Scotland had fallen 6% in real terms since 2005, the report said.

EIS executives meet next week to discuss their pay claim before the first round of talks with the government and councils starts later this month. Flanagan said an offer of 2% would be rejected.

“The EIS is committed to a major campaign to improve teachers’ pay in the year ahead. We hope to achieve this through negotiation, but stand fully prepared to take all options – including industrial action – to ensure that teachers receive the fair pay increase that they deserve,” he said.

Cosla said it had little scope to fund a significant pay claim because its members were already in dire financial straits. “As employers we endeavour to ensure that the pay deals we reach within all our bargaining groups are fair and also sustainable,” a spokesman said.

The Scottish government would not respond directly to the EIS threat of industrial action but said it had already started making up for previous pay freezes. “We have already taken action to reduce workload and have agreed a backdated 1% pay rise from April and a further 1% uplift from January until the end of March 2018 - backed by an additional £24m in the draft budget,” a spokesman said.

“We will also, alongside employers and unions, take part in a strategic review of pay and reward‎.”