Teaching union vote to strike

MEMBERS of Scotland’s second-largest teaching union have voted to join a national strike planned for next week.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), which represents 9,000 members, said it was “reluctantly” joining a UK-wide walkout, which will see Scottish teachers take part in their first nationwide strike since 1986.

The SSTA said two-thirds of its members had voted, with 79 per cent in favour of strike action over changes being made to public sector pensions.

Ann Ballinger, the union’s general secretary, said: “It’s an overwhelming vote, very reluctantly, in favour of industrial action. This is another attempt to dismantle the terms and conditions that have been hard-fought and hard-won.”