Parents across West Dunbartonshire are being reminded of further teacher strikes next week in an ongoing pay dispute.

West Dunbartonshire Council has confirmed that parents and carers should have received a letter informing them of further planned industrial action, which is due to take place on Tuesday, February 28 and Wednesday, March 1.

During those days, all schools - including Early Learning and Childcare Centres attached to schools, will be closed.

Parents are also reminded that there will be no breakfast club or after school care.

Families with pupils who are entitled to free school meals will receive a one-off payment of £5 to their bank account to cover the closure.

However, ELCCs in the local authority which will open as normal on February 28 and March 1 are:

  • Auchnacraig ELCC
  • Dalmonach
  • Andrew B Cameron
  • Ferryfield
  • Bellsmyre
  • Gartocharn
  • Braehead
  • Kilbowie
  • Brucehill
  • Lennox, Faifley
  • Clydebank
  • Whitecrook
  • Dalmuir

Schoolchildren across the local authority have already been forced to stay at home as teachers walked out in their first national pay strike in almost 40 years.

Schools closed on November 24 last year as thousands of EIS members picketed their workplaces in pursuit of their demands for higher wages, with warnings of more strikes to come.

Then in early January members of teaching unions EIS, Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, NASUWT and the Association of Head Teachers and Deputes staged a strike during the first days of a new term.

The EIS, the country's largest teaching union, took part in the fourth of a programme of 16 strike days across Scotland.  

Their members unanimously turned down the latest offer from the Scottish Government and Cosla last Wednesday.

The offer was for a six per cent pay rise this year, followed by a 5.5 per cent uplift in the 2023/24 financial year.

But EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley called the proposal “another inadequate offer to Scotland’s teachers”.

The union had been demanding a 10 per cent rise this year.

Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Our focus is on resolving the industrial dispute, delivering a fair and sustainable settlement for teachers and ending disruption to pupils, parents and carers.

“We are very disappointed that the EIS rejected outright the latest pay offer – the fifth offered to unions – which would have meant an 11.5 per cent increase, or £5,000, in April for most teachers, and a cumulative increase of almost 30 per cent since January 2018.

“The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers has met regularly throughout negotiations and is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, February 21.”