Almost every school in Scotland will be closed on Tuesday or Wednesday as part of a fresh wave of new year strikes over pay, despite warnings from the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that her government has “no more money” to offer teachers, as well as nurses and midwives.
Primary schools are closed all day on Tuesday, with secondary schools shutting on Wednesday, after members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), NASUWT and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) rejected a 5% pay increase, including rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest-paid, arguing for 10%.
Last-ditch talks between the Scottish government and teaching unions on Monday failed to avert this week’s strikes, though the EIS said it was still hoping for a resolution before further strikes planned for next week. The latest school closures come after the biggest Scottish teachers’ strike in decades last November.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Holyrood’s education secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, described the unions’ pay demands as “simply unaffordable”.
