West Lothian schools set to close as teachers vote overwhelmingly for strike

dailyrecord.co.uk:

West Lothian schools are set to close after teachers voted for strike action following a bitter pay dispute.Any walkout would be the first national strike since the 1980s.

On a turnout of 71 per cent, 96 per cent members of the EIS trade union supported strike action.The vote follows a separate consultative ballot, where 94 per cent of EIS members rejected a 5 per cent pay offer and 91 per cent said they would be willing to move to strike action.

Scotland faces a crippling winter of discontent, with nurses also voting for a strike.Commenting following the result, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said: "This ballot result provides the EIS with an extremely strong mandate for strike action over pay."Our members should have received a pay increase in April but, after months of unjustifiable dither and delay from COSLA and the Scottish Government, we are still waiting for an acceptable offer to be made."Quite frankly, our members have had enough of waiting and enough of feeling the financial strain of the cost of living on top of the significant stress of their teaching jobs.”Earlier this month, Scotland’s Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister John Swinney said there was no more money to fund public sector pay rises.Mr Swinney, speaking after announcing £615 million of spending cuts in his emergency budget review, said: “I have no other way other but to communicate it directly and clearly - I have nowhere else to go to fund pay deals other than what the government offers.” Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier.