Teachers strike for 10% and not a penny less

By Socialist Party Scotland members of the EIS

Tens of thousands of teachers in Scotland are taking national strike action on Thursday 24 November. This is our first national strike on pay since the 1980s and reflects the massive anger among EIS members over not just pay but ever increasing workload as well.

Workload remains excessive, while more and more is demanded with fewer and fewer resources. In response we are offered a derisory pay increase which is nothing short of a substantial pay cut. This cannot be allowed to continue.

After all teachers and school staff gave during the pandemic the refusal of the employers – Cosla and the Scottish government – to offer teachers more than a derisory 5% is an utter insult.

The latest pay offer this week is a disgrace and an insult. With RPI inflation running at over 14% it’s a massive kick in the teeth.

The huge vote of 96% in favour of strike action on a 71% turnout says it all about just how determined we are to stop the year-on-year erosion of our pay.

We have no option but to strike. Even our 10% pay demand is significantly below current inflation.

But teachers, like the rest of the working class, don’t live in a world of average inflation. Families are being impoverished by the rise in gas prices (95.7%), electricity (54%), petrol and diesel (114%) and basic food (over 20%).

For that reason we cannot accept anything less than 10%. Our strikes must continue and be escalated until we win.

Bosses make billions

At the same time Centrica, the owner of British Gas, announced half-year profits for 2022 are up 500% to £1.3 billion. BP’s half-year profits in 2022 are £11.9 billion, double that of 2021. Shell’s half-year profits in 2022 are £17.3 billion, up from £8.7 billion in 2021

EIS President, Andrene Bamford was correct to say, “The cost of living crisis was created by unscrupulous and greedy capitalists. We did not cause it, and we will not pay for it. A wage increase that does not rise with inflation is a pay cut. It’s as simple as that.”

John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon say there is no money for pay rises, but if the Scottish government stopped making Tory cuts, taxed the rich and stood for the nationalisation of the energy industry as well as big business generally there would be plenty of money for pay rises to match inflation.

coordinated action

We are striking alongside the CWU in Royal Mail and UCU members in the universities on 24 November. NHS unions and the RMT transport union also have live strike ballots.

Now is the time to up the coordination of the action. Imagine the impact if teachers, health workers, rail workers and posties were all striking together.

Drawing more workers into struggle, all striking together, has the potential to win real pay rises for workers and increase the pressure on the employers and to drive out the Tories.

The EIS should play its part in building coordinated action with other unions who have live strike ballots.

Build a new workers’ party

Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced more misery for workers and their families. The Tory carnage will mean the worst drop in living standards since the second world war.

There is not a single political party who is fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with workers.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded his MPs stay away from picket lines. The SNP have been dragged kicking and screaming by striking council workers, teachers, rail workers and NHS workers to increase derisory pay offers.

The SNP have continually carried out Tory cuts meaning the pressure on education in Scotland, as well as the NHS, has gone from bad to worse.

But a new power has arisen in society. Workers are fighting back. Naming the day for a mass coordinated strike as a step towards a 24-hour general strike would be a turning point.

More than that, workers need a party of their own that stands for pay, benefit and pension rises that match inflation, for public ownership of the economy and for a fight for socialist change in society.

By leading strikes and winning pay rises, trade unions are at the forefront of the fightback. And if those same trade unions were to prepare to stand candidates in a general election, independently of Labour and the SNP, that would get a huge response.

But if the trade union leaders don’t take the initiative, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition offers a banner for trade unionists and others prepared to fight to use to put up a real alternative to yet more austerity.