The EIS teaching union has rejected the latest pay offer from the Scottish Government and council leaders.

The new offer announced on Tuesday evening, involves teachers who earn up to £80,000 given a 6% pay boost backdated to April 2022 and a further 5.5% from the start of the 2023 financial year, representing 11.5% over two years.

It was rejected at a special meeting of the EIS Salaries Committee on Wednesday, with the union confirming its programme of strikes will continue “until a more credible offer is put on the negotiating table”

READ MORE: Teachers' pay offer ‘baby step’ rather than ‘significant improvement’

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union begun striking last month, with a 16 days of rolling strike action. 

The action saw teachers in two of Scotland's 32 local authority areas walking out each day until February 6.

However, EIS have not yet accepted any offers put on the table. 

Glasgow Times:

General secretary of the EIS Andrea Bradley told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today: “I would say what’s been put through the media and subsequently put on the table for negotiation later this week amounts to a tiny baby step in the right direction rather than a significant improvement.”

She went on to say that her union and others will look seriously at the offer, but added that it would still amount to a real-terms pay cut over the next two years.

But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville insisted on the same programme that the offer is “good and fair” and that teachers have received almost a 30% cumulative pay increase since 2018.

Following the news, she said: “It is deeply disappointing that the EIS has rejected this offer outright, without consulting members – and, in doing so, continuing with damaging industrial action, which is particularly concerning in the run-up to the SQA exam diet.

“It is a fair offer – the fifth that has been made to unions – and would have meant a salary rise of 11.5% for most teachers in April, with a cumulative rise of almost 30% since January 2018.

“We looked for compromise – as we were asked to do – and dug deep under very challenging financial circumstances to arrive at a deal that is affordable and sustainable.”

The EIS union has marked February 28 and March 1 for two days of national strike action. 

They have also announced a further 20 days of rolling strikes across local authorities from March 13 until April 21.