EIS members are again being urged to vote for both Strike Action and Action Short of Strike (ASOS) in an attempt to compel local authorities and the Scottish Government to deliver long-promised actions to reduce excessive teacher workload.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “In opening this ballot, the EIS is clearly signalling that we will not back down over teacher workload. Promises were made, 5 years ago, to tackle teacher workload, to recruit 3,500 additional teachers in schools, and to reduce teachers’ maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week.
“None of these commitments have been met, despite pledges by the Scottish Government and local authorities to work to deliver them ‘at pace’. This failure to deliver has let down pupils and teachers the length and breadth of Scotland.”
Previous indications of strong support for action on workload
Last year, a consultative ballot of EIS members indicated very strong support for a move to industrial action over teacher workload. In that online digital ballot, 92% of members voted in favour of ASOS, with 83% of members in favour of strike action. Turnout in that ballot was 64%.
It is clear from both our consultative and previous statutory ballot results that support for industrial action on workload remains high amongst Scotland’s teachers.
In the subsequent statutory ballot, which closed in January, teachers voted even more strongly in favour of industrial action, with 93% in favour of ASOS and 86% in favour of strike action. Turnout, however, was significantly down on the consultative ballot level, at less than 47%.
Sadly, this meant that the threshold required to obtain a legal mandate for industrial action was missed by a few percentage points. Current UK trade union law, introduced by the former Tory government, requires that statutory ballots must be postal only, and demands a 50% turnout, with the recent result being just 3% short of that.
Commenting, Ms Bradley said, “It is clear from both our consultative and previous statutory ballot results that support for industrial action on workload remains high amongst Scotland’s teachers. It is extremely unfortunate that, as a result of a Tory-era law that is in the process of being repealed, a very clear vote in favour of industrial action has not delivered a legal mandate for action to commence.
“In opening this new statutory ballot, the EIS is urging our members to smash through the restrictive thresholds of this outdated, discredited and scheduled-for-repeal law, and to start to take back control of their own workload by compelling the Scottish Government and local authorities to act on their promises.”
Act together to reduce workload & create jobs
We cannot let the Scottish Government and local authorities off the hook on teacher workload. Five years ago, very clear and binding commitments were made to Scotland’s teachers and pupils. There was a promise to reduce teacher workload, there was a promise to employ 3,500 additional teachers, and there was a promise to cut teachers’ maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week.
None of these promises have been kept, and none of these promises will be kept unless we take a collective stand and fight for them.
The message to all EIS members is clear – look out for the yellow envelope containing your ballot paper, and complete and return your postal ballot as soon as possible to ensure that your vote is counted and your voice is heard on teacher workload, on more jobs for teachers, and for delivery of the promised cut in teacher class contact time.