Fife teachers’ strikes: industrial action continues as EIS rejects pay offer

The next scheduled dates for industrial action are Tuesday, February 28 and Wednesday, March 1. Schools across the Kingdom have already been hit by days of action as part of the long-=running pay campaign.

“As a result of the clear decision to reject this offer, taken by our salaries committee today, our executive committee has also unanimously agreed that the current programme of strike action will continue as scheduled,” EIS Fife said in a tweet.

Yesterday the Scottish Government, represented by the local government body COSLA, presented a £156 million, two-year deal to the uinion.

The offer involved a six per cent pay rise for 2023 and an additional 5.5 per cent increase from next April.

The union’s salaries committee unanimously rejected the offer on Wednesday.

Andrea Bradley, EIS General Secretary, said: “This is another inadequate offer to Scotland’s teachers. The six percent value of the offer for [the current year] is insufficient, with CPI inflation currently sitting today at 10.5 percent.”

She added: “Teachers have already lost more than one per cent of their salaries through being forced into strike action so, essentially, teachers already more than paid for this revised offer themselves. This is just yet more smoke and mirrors from the Scottish Government and COSLA in attempting to make this offer appear more generous than it actually is.”

EIS Fife division has been contacted for more information. Fife Council has also been contacted for comment.