Campaign Meeting

Plan for meeting Quick update on LA matters (exec membership, upcoming elections for LA office bearers and EIS National Council delegates, Learning and Equalities Reps, LA AGM) Pay campaign – what is happening and what we need to do Ideas for building participation What strike action means Q&A Violence at Work update Any other issues

Pay Campaign Campaign already a huge success… EIS has rejected the latest offer. We are going to statutory ballot – all local authorities (as employers) will get formal notification this week Statutory ballot rules: Ballot is postal – run by Electoral Commission We have to get 50% of entire membership voting We have to get 40% of entire membership to vote for strike So, the next two weeks are all about preparing the membership, with ballot papers going out 31st January, and ballot closing on 28th February.

In the next two weeks EIS has FAQs on the website There will be national bulletins All LAs will be working to build engagement

What happens when we win the ballot… All subject to decisions by EIS Executive and Council, but likely to be: One day of national strike – 20th March One day of national strike, or several days of regional strikes, the next week Further single strike days in April (may be regional or sectoral)

One potential complication… It may be that, on 25th January, COSLA and Scottish Government agree an improved offer. If that happens, we will have another consultative ballot. It will be really important that the whole membership is involved in this, so that the consultative ballot gives a clear indication of what members want to do – we would be asking that people have branch meetings to discuss… If majority decides to reject, we will then have another statutory ballot – opens 1st March and closes 25th March You may find you get asked to take part in opinion polls or surveys by the EIS, so national HQ has an idea of what members think…

In the letter, the DFM sets out the willingness of Scottish Government to improve the January 7th offer by restructuring the 2% originally being offered in August 2018 to a new figure of 3%, payable in January, 2019. The key benefit of this approach is to create a higher starting point for Year 2 and 3. The net impact of this change is that over a 2-year period the offer would be worth a 9.25% increase compared to March 2018 [3% April 2018 (backdated) + 3% January 2019 + 3% April 2019]. For Headteachers on more than £80,000 it would be worth slightly less as the April 2018 offer is capped at a flat rate of £1,600; and for probationers and those on main grade Point 1 it is worth more as the proposal would still be to shorten the main grade from 6 points to 5. A further proposed 3% in April 2020 would take the compounded increase to 12.5%, compared to March 2018, i.e. current scales.

What the consultative ballot told us Engagement in Edinburgh was good – but there were things that might have helped that which will not apply in statutory ballot (electronic, able to track returns) We know what schools had high turnout What reps in those schools said made a difference:

To be honest I think I just pestered them to death with posters and general conversations about how important it is for everyone to get involved. Kept talking to people Went round every faculty Held branch meeting where encouraged everyone to update details on database – this also reminded them of need to vote Face to face discussions I set up a WhatsApp group and used that to nag people We had a FaceBook group we used

What are you going to do…. What are key ideas in your school? Discuss what you might do… If you have an idea not mentioned already, please write it on post-it and we’ll collect those in… During this, please check the list re: schools we need to target…

Any other questions on the pay campaign?

Violence at Work Update… This is what should be happening now This is what should be happening in the next few weeks What do we need to do next?

Anything else?