Letters / Response to teacher strike letter
Your correspondent, Mr Paton, would do well to listen carefully to what I said about the role of individual councils or councillors in relation to influencing the negotiation process in the teachers pay dispute.
Not silly comments at all, as I clearly exhorted all negotiating parties to get back to the table (as I have done whenever the opportunity arises).
The (party) political positions in support of resolving this dispute are pretty irrelevant – we have an SNP government, a large amount of SNP local authorities and indeed an SNP councillor as the senior COSLA negotiator, however the fact remains that local authorities have no means to fund a pay settlement alone, without the financial input of government.
Any amount of posturing at a political level doesn’t change that.
My point that individual local authorities couldn’t influence the process stands – and yes, we are fully engaged through the COSLA leaders group.
Strangely, I don’t hear too many clear party positions on support for the teachers demands – either locally or nationally.
Oh, and I should also be clear, I support the right of all our public sector workforce to seek fair pay settlements in the light of the unprecedented impact of rising costs for all.
Yours, etc
Councillor Davie Sandison
