Protecting Jobs and Services
The leader of Glasgow City Council - Councillor Gordon Matheson - has come up with an idea on how to protect Scotland's schoolchildren - from the worst impact of spending cuts.
Councillor Matheson has suggested that teachers should spend longer in the classroom - to help ease the impact of "brutal" cuts, as he sees the situation.
Now this wouldn't affect teachers pay in any way - but it would mean them spending 30 minutes more every day on classes - by taking 30 minutes out of their preparation time.
At the moment Scotland's teachers work 35 hours - with 22.5 hours spent teaching - under a national agreement known as the McCrone Agreement.
Glasgow's leader wants Scottish ministers to re-open talks on the McCrone Agreement - to free up valuable resources at a very difficult time for all the public services.
Councillor Matheson said: "We face brutal choices and I believe this is a reasonable request to make, which would still leave sufficient time for preparation.
"The options in front of us are not only politically very difficult, but threaten the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. This is one way we could offset those cuts."
So far, the government has poured cold water on the idea - but you never know.
One reason the private sector stopped unemployment going through the roof at the height of the recession - was by reaching agreements with employees on new ways of working - not on a long term basis necessarily, but as a way of preserving jobs and protecting services.
Unsurprisingly, the teaching unions are not keen - yet teachers are one of the better paid groups of local government workers - with broader backs than their lower paid colleagues.
Councillor Matheson has suggested that teachers should spend longer in the classroom - to help ease the impact of "brutal" cuts, as he sees the situation.
Now this wouldn't affect teachers pay in any way - but it would mean them spending 30 minutes more every day on classes - by taking 30 minutes out of their preparation time.
At the moment Scotland's teachers work 35 hours - with 22.5 hours spent teaching - under a national agreement known as the McCrone Agreement.
Glasgow's leader wants Scottish ministers to re-open talks on the McCrone Agreement - to free up valuable resources at a very difficult time for all the public services.
Councillor Matheson said: "We face brutal choices and I believe this is a reasonable request to make, which would still leave sufficient time for preparation.
"The options in front of us are not only politically very difficult, but threaten the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. This is one way we could offset those cuts."
So far, the government has poured cold water on the idea - but you never know.
One reason the private sector stopped unemployment going through the roof at the height of the recession - was by reaching agreements with employees on new ways of working - not on a long term basis necessarily, but as a way of preserving jobs and protecting services.
Unsurprisingly, the teaching unions are not keen - yet teachers are one of the better paid groups of local government workers - with broader backs than their lower paid colleagues.
So instead of a knee jerk response - how about some leadership from the unions - for a change.
