Teachers gathered to protest outside Perth and Kinross Council headquarters on Tuesday as strike action over pay and working conditions continued this week.
Faculty members and supporters at 2 High Street also took to picket lines outside schools across the region earlier in the day.
The industrial action by members of Scotland’s largest teaching union, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), saw all primary and secondary facilities closed to pupils.
The walkout went ahead after last-ditch talks between the Scottish Government, councils and unions last week failed to settle on a new pay deal.
EIS, along with Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) and NASUWT, is seeking an improvement on the Scottish Government and COSLA’s five per cent pay increase offer (including a rise of up to 6.85 per cent for the lowest paid staff).
However, the trio of unions are seeking a minimum 10 per cent increase to match the current record rates of inflation.
EIS Perth and Kinross local association secretary Carolyn Weston called the current offer a “pay cut” rather than an increase due to the rise in inflation.
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, however, said the talks were focused on “examining options for compromise”, rather than tabling a new offer.
She feels the current pay deal is “fair and sustainable”.
COSLA spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann, said “all parties are eager to seek a resolution” but reiterated that the 10 per cent rise demand remained unaffordable.
EIS has also announced plans for a further 22 days of strike action over the next three months – meaning another five days of walkouts lined up for Perth and Kinross schools.
The programme will include two days of national strike action in all schools on February 28 and March 1 and will be followed by a rolling programme of strikes for 20 days between March 13 and April 21.
Over the rolling strike period, each local authority area will be impacted by three consecutive days of strike action, with one day of strike action in all schools book-ended on either side by one-day strikes in primary and secondary schools.
The programme will begin after the conclusion of the current rolling 16-day programme of industrial action.
Primary and secondary schools also shut last Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, due to strikes over the ongoing dispute.
Perth and Kinross Council is “currently considering arrangements” for the upcoming school strike days with vast closures likely once more, and will confirm arrangements “as soon as possible” to parents and carers.
