Created on: 20 Jun 2023
EIS members at Hutchesons' Grammar, an independent fee-paying school in Glasgow, have resumed their programme of strike action over the school’s use of fire-and-rehire tactics to force teachers onto new contracts with inferior pension provision.
Picket lines are in place again at Hutchesons' Grammar sites this morning.
Strike action was halted two weeks ago, following the school's announcement that it would delay its plans for a year and enter info further talks with teaching unions. The school has since reneged on this previous announcement and now plans to press ahead with its plans this year, leading to the resumption of strike action by EIS members today.
Commenting, an EIS spokesperson said, "The school's recent actions display the worst example of management behaviour, and continue a pattern of extremely poor treatment of the hard-working and dedicated teaching staff at Hutchesons' Grammar.
"The EIS had suspended its strike action, as an act of good faith, to allow time for more discussions following the school’s announcement of a delay in its plans. At that time, we warned the school that they must seize the opportunity to enter into meaningful discussions with a view to reaching a negotiated agreement."
"Sadly, the school has not only failed to offer anything new in further discussions, it has also now broken its promise to delay its plans for a year. In doing this, the management of the school have once again demonstrated that they are bad faith actors, who cannot be trusted.
"Breaking a commitment that they freely entered into such a short time ago clearly demonstrates that the management at Hutchesons' Grammar are either unwilling or incapable of working constructively with teaching staff to find a resolution to this dispute.
"It is the underhand tactics of management that have led to the resumption of strike action today, while also hardening our members’ resolve to continue with their programme of industrial action until a fair settlement is reached in this dispute."