Glasgow teachers vote to go on strike
The EIS ballot closed today with 95% voting in favour of walkouts.
Teachers in Glasgow have voted in favour of strike action in opposition at plans to cut 450 teacher posts over the next three years.
A ballot, organised by the country’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), closed with 95 % of those backing industrial action.
The EIS says its members will take part in walkouts unless the programme of cuts is halted and reversed.
Commenting on the ballot result, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “This is an outstanding ballot result, through which our members in Glasgow have sent a very clear message to Glasgow City Council that they must stop , and reverse, their programme of damaging education cuts.
The impact of the cuts is already being felt in schools across Glasgow, where in the region of three hundred teaching posts having been removed already by the Council. This is having a profoundly negative impact on the operation of Glasgow’s schools, a detrimental impact on the educational experiences of pupils across the city, some of whom are the most socio-economically deprived in Scotland, and is compounding what can only be described as crisis levels of teacher workload .”
Ms Bradley added, “It is now time for Glasgow City Council to ditch its damaging cuts, and recommit to working with teachers and teaching unions to deliver the best possible education provision for the young people of Glasgow that does not come at the cost of teacher jobs or teacher wellbeing at work. In a city that faces significant problems with deprivation, with a large number of young people struggling with poverty-related disadvantage, it is a disgrace that the Council continues to push ahead with plans that will further slash the teacher workforce, and damage the learning experience of pupils in Glasgow’s schools. This ballot result should encourage the Council to give serious pause for thought.”
EIS Glasgow Local Association Secretary Jane Gow said, “Our members in Glasgow have demonstrated, through this ballot result, that they are willing to fight to protect education in Glasgow. The teachers in our schools know very well the impact that these cuts are having on learning and teaching, and they have shown that they are willing to take strike action to force the Council into a reversal. The 10% cut to Glasgow teaching staff, as proposed by the Council, will be hugely damaging to young people’s education, and will also pile even more workload onto already overburdened school staff.”
Ms Gow added, “I would like to thank every member who took the time to vote in this hugely important ballot, and for delivering a very clear message to Glasgow City Council to stop these cuts. With a 5.5% increase in the Glasgow Council budget this year, and with the cap on Council Tax increases lifted, the Council now has the financial wherewithal to stop the cuts and to instead invest in the education of our young people. Glasgow City Council must now end its programme of cuts and quickly, or Glasgow’s teachers will take strike action to defend the quality of education in our schools.”
Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.