Teachers reject own union in online poll

THE leadership of Scotland's biggest education union was under growing pressure last night after rank-and-file members launched an online campaign against the organisation's hierarchy.

Yesterday, more than 90 per cent of voters had indicated through an website poll that they did not trust union management, after leaders recommended acceptance of a pay deal other unions have rejected.

The Facebook campaign, Reject EIS, was sparked by disgruntled members who believe the latest deal in pay and conditions for the profession is little better than an earlier deal which the union urged members to reject.

Many are angry at what they believe is a volte-face.

As well as a Facebook page which has nearly 800 members, the campaign has a website running in tandem.

A poll on the social networking page, posted yesterday, asked: "Do you trust the leadership of the EIS to protect pay and conditions?"

By mid-afternoon the vast majority of people responding had said "no".

The move comes after the union recommended members to accept the latest pay and conditions offer by council bosses.

However, other unions, including the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA), are urging their members to reject the offer.

Concerns surround reduction in pay for supply staff, a pay freeze and changes to working conditions.

It also follows criticism of education secretary Mike Russell's promise to guarantee jobs for trainees, which was dismissed this week as a "pipe dream".

Jim Docherty, deputy general secretary of the SSTA, warned there was "no mechanism" to force local authorities to give all trainee teachers jobs as the government is "not the employer".

That could encourage teachers to reject the offer.

However, the online poll has no official bearing and will not affect the union except to put pressure on the leadership.

Comments on the site include: "Intimidating us with warnings that we will be far worse off if we reject the proposals is simply outrageous!

"Accepting the revised proposals would be nothing short of a sell-out, particularly to our temporary teaching colleagues."

Another writes: "These 'warnings' we expect from the employer's side. It's disgusting that our own union want to sell us out too."

When the campaign was launched many teachers said they were "sickened" with the speed with which the EIS moved to back the deal.Last night, Ronnie Smith, EIS general secretary, dismissed the campaign page, saying it was a small number of people compared to the 49,000 who would be balloted officially by the union on the deal.

He said: "I think the ballot that matters is the real ballot, not a loaded question put up by some faceless group on Facebook."

He said the EIS ballot on whether to accept the latest pay offer was ongoing and would be independently verified and would show what teachers feel about the deal.

The closing date for the poll in April 28.