Glasgow teachers vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over education cuts

Teachers in Glasgow have voted in favour of strike action over planned education cuts.

The vast majority of those participating in the vote backed industrial action, with 95% in favour from a turnout of 57%.

The trade union-organised vote was in response to the local authority’s programme of cuts in Scotland’s biggest city.

The union said Glasgow City Council’s cuts had already resulted in significant reductions in teacher numbers and warned that its members would take industrial action unless the plans were halted and reversed.

Cuts to teacher numbers passed last year, which could eventually see 450 jobs lost, with the figure already down by 120 last year. EIS said that number has since risen to about 300 this year.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “This is an outstanding ballot result, through which our members in Glasgow have sent a very clear message to Glasgow City Council that they must stop, and reverse, their programme of damaging education cuts.

“The impact of the cuts is already being felt in schools across Glasgow, within the region of 300 teaching posts having been removed already by the council.

“This is having a profoundly negative impact on the operation of Glasgow’s schools, a detrimental impact on the educational experiences of pupils across the city, some of whom are the most socio-economically deprived in Scotland, and is compounding what can only be described as crisis levels of teacher workload.”

Ms Bradley called on the local authority to “ditch its damaging cuts” and “recommit to working with teachers and teaching unions to deliver the best possible education provision for the young people of Glasgow”.

She went on: “In a city that faces significant problems with deprivation, with a large number of young people struggling with poverty-related disadvantage, it is a disgrace that the council continues to push ahead with plans that will further slash the teacher workforce, and damage the learning experience of pupils in Glasgow’s schools.

“This ballot result should encourage the council to give serious pause for thought.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “The EIS has notified us of the outcome of their statutory ballot and their mandate for potential strike action.”