SSTA rejects that latest pay offer from the employers (COSLA)

The SSTA Salaries and Conditions of Service Committee met on 15 December and firmly rejected the latest employers’ pay offer and regarded it as further insult to the hardworking and committed teacher workforce in Scotland.

The SNCT Teachers’ Side pay claim for April 2021 was lodged in December 2020 and, despite a series of meetings, COSLA had only been prepared to make a pay offer of a 1.22% increase from January 2021. This was rejected by the SNCT Teachers’ Side in November.

This week the employers’ side issued a further pay offer that was within the same overall cost envelope with reconfigured dates:

• A 1% increase at all SNCT pay points effective from 1 April 2021.
• A further 1% increase at all SNCT pay points effective from 1 January 2022.
• A one-off non-recurring payment of £100 to each SNCT member of staff (pro-rated for part-time) for all SNCT members in post on the date the offer is agreed and based on working hours at that time.
• A cap of £800 for those earning £80K and above.

Paul Cochrane (SSTA Salaries and Conditions of Service Committee Convener) said,

“After an in-depth discussion, the Committee unanimously rejected it as being an inadequate and insulting attempt at numerical smoke and mirrors with the same pot of money they have been holding for the last year”.

“As a teaching union, we are now asking ourselves more frequently, ‘What is COSLA’s role in the SNCT negotiating arena?' We are now approaching a period of nearly 5 years where only one salary settlement has been agreed. With teachers being key workers who have delivered on equity, attainment and social justice during a worldwide pandemic, it is incredibly insensitive and demeaning for COSLA to continually offer the same deal in different wrapping”.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary, said,

“The pay offer is a demand for more work for less pay from teachers. It is a demand for teachers to accept a cut in living standards as inflation, taxation, and the general cost of living all rise beyond our living standards. It cannot be serious and must be seen yet another delaying tactic. The ball can only be kicked into the long grass so many times before it bursts”.

“This latest derisory pay offer and the Governments plea to school staff to ‘break’ the national 10-day isolation rule to ‘keep schools open at all costs’ whilst putting themselves and their families at further risk. This shows a real lack of respect towards teachers and how much teachers are valued by their employers and the Government”.