THE STUC has rallied behind pupils, teachers and communities fighting swingeing education cuts in Glasgow.
The SNP-led Glasgow City Council has proposed slashing more than £100 million from services in the city over the next three years, and joined forces with the Greens to pass a budget that cut more than £30m from the city’s schools over the same period.
Just days later, the council began a consultation with teaching unions on plans to axe a staggering 450 teaching posts — between 8 and 9 per cent of the teaching workforce — over three years, with 172 to go this year alone.
Congress unanimously backed a motion demanding proper Scottish government funding, moved by EIS delegate and Glasgow teacher Susan Quinn, who told conference the cuts came despite government commitments to closing the poverty attainment gap and increasing teacher numbers across the country by 3,500.
She went on to warn: “Glasgow has already lost 125 teachers this year as a result of a budget decision last year.
“We are in crisis in Glasgow. If it’s allowed to happen in Glasgow, it will happen everywhere else.”