Glasgow teachers to vote on strike action against plans to cut 450 jobs

Teachers in Glasgow are to be balloted for strike action over plans to cut 450 teaching posts over a three-year period.

Scotland’s largest teaching union the EIS has urged members to back industrial action, including strikes, to force the City Council to scrap its “damaging and dangerous proposals”.

The local authority set out the cuts – which will see the number of MCR Pathways Coordinators reduced by 50% – alongside its budget earlier this year.

The council said it is facing a £108m funding shortfall over the next three years.

Around 172 posts have already been lost across primary and secondary schools, with 125 lost throughout the previous school year, the union has said.

It is feared that the latest cuts will predominantly impact children with additional support needs.

EIS Glasgow local association secretary Jane Gow said: “The EIS is crystal clear that the loss of jobs vital to education provision in Glasgow will irreparably damage the life chances of many of the city’s young people and most especially those with additional support needs (ASN).

“It is the education department’s policy that all mainstream pupils, with or without ASN, remain in class settings for the majority of their daily educational experience to be primarily supported by their classroom teachers while in this setting.

“All teachers are ASN teachers and to lose 10%, from an already struggling service, must be resisted at all costs.”

The ballot will open on September 2 and run until October 1.

Glasgow City Council is also facing legal action from parents over the proposed cuts.

Campaigners from the Glasgow City Parents Group launched legal proceedings against the council stating that the move will have a “profoundly negative impact” on the quality of education and support provided to the city’s children and young people.

A council spokeswoman said: “The EIS has notified us of their statutory ballot, and we will await the outcome in due course.

“In the meantime, we will continue to liaise with union colleagues.”