Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville risks major teacher strikes in Dundee if their pay demands are not met, according to warnings from opponents.
The senior SNP minister was accused of shirking responsibility for claiming she was not responsible for giving an improved wage offer.
Dundee Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba insisted teachers should be given a substantial pay rise to meet the demands of the cost of living crisis.
Meanwhile, the city’s EIS teachers’ union rep David Baxter claimed the SNP must cough up money for local councils to ensure they can give a better pay offer.
He warned Dundee could face a teacher shortage going forward if the job is not attractive enough for university graduates and accused Ms Somerville of “short-sightedness”.
Teacher salaries are decided by a joint committee which involves the government, local authorities and unions.
In May the EIS rejected an pay rise of 2%, asking instead for a much higher 10% increase.
Dundee union bosses have also been locked in a bitter dispute with the council in recent months over proposals to scrap principal teachers in secondary schools.
The controversial move saw teachers voting in favour of industrial action to go on strike in June before the summer holidays started.
Ms Somerville was urged to intervene and block the changes, while a court intervened to put the council’s plans on hold.
But parents will now fear further walkouts could follow if a settlement over wages cannot be agreed.
Mr Baxter told The Courier: “Let’s face it, the Scottish Government can go and find money.
“Teachers continued to work through the pandemic, we kept schools open, we’ve done our bit, and all we’ve had is a derisory pay offer.
“Quite frankly, we know how the system works. Teachers know the system works. Shirley-Anne Somerville can say ‘it’s not up to us to find money’, but it is.
‘Short-sightedness’
“The big worry is as pay continues to fall behind, essentially there is going to be a gap in recruitment, because this job is not as attractive as other graduate jobs. It’s short-sightedness.”
In a response to a letter from Labour’s Ms Villalba, the education secretary said the Scottish Government had backed a 13% pay rise for teachers between 2018 and 2021.
Defending her party’s record on schools, Ms Somerville insisted staff in Scotland were being paid more than elsewhere in the UK.
She said: “I would like to assure your constituents that I am committed to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers.
“It is, however, for the local government, as the employer, to make any revised offer of pay.”
But Ms Villalba said: “It’s disappointing that Scotland’s education secretary is congratulating herself for paying teachers only marginally more than the Tory government at Westminster.
“Teachers, like all public sector workers in Scotland, are being denied a fair pay increase to sustain them during the ever deepening cost of living crisis.”
Conversation