SCOTLAND’s top teachers' union is embroiled in a double standards row over the pay award for its employees.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) lodged a 10 per cent pay claim for teachers last month, but the union is only giving three per cent to its own staff.
Scottish Tory shadow education secretary Liz Smith said: “Staff at the EIS will likely feel pretty aggrieved at this. They have every right to wonder why there should be such a discrepancy. If the union can’t stretch to 10 per cent as it is demanding for teachers, how can it expect hard-pressed local authorities to come up with the money?”
Loading article content
Under SNP Government budget plans, public sector workers earning up to £36,500 a year will get a 3% pay rise in 2018/19 while higher earners will receive a smaller boost.
However, Ministers have been accused of under-funding councils which, along with other stakeholders, pay the salaries of local authority staff such as teachers.
EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan entered the fray in January with a call for a rise that far exceeded the 3% offered to other public sector workers:
“The Scottish Government has repeatedly said that education is its number one priority, and local authority representatives have also spoken of the importance of teachers in the delivery of high quality education.
“A good first step towards restoring teachers’ pay to an acceptable level would be the delivery of a 10% pay increase for all teachers in 2018.”
He added that teachers’ pay in Scotland had declined by at least 20% in real terms, compared to the Retail Price Index, over the past decade:
“It is time for a fair pay rise for all of Scotland’s teachers.”
However, the 10% call is in stark contrast to the 3% award given by the EIS to the staff who work under Flanagan.
According to the union’s latest annual accounts, which cover 2016, the EIS had “total funds”, including reserves, of over £35m, up from £33.4m.
The accounts also stated that the union commenced a plan to refurbish the basement of its plush Edinburgh headquarters, to convert it into a three bedroom property suitable for long-term letting. The estimated cost of the project was estimated at £200,000.
In 2016, Flanagan enjoyed a remuneration deal worth £125,785, including a £96,544 salary and £29,156 of pension contributions.
However, an EIS spokesperson defended the 3% claim: “The administrative staff group has not been subject to the pay freezes or pay caps that teachers (and EIS Officials and Officers) have been subject to for the past decade – so there has not been the same equivalent drop in the value of take home pay.
“This group has negotiated freely on pay increases throughout this period, rejecting any notion that its pay should be linked to that of teachers. It has agreed a 3% increase for this year. The teachers’ claim, for 10%, is a separate issue and reflects the real-terms pay cuts that teachers have faced over the past decade.”