Britain faces widespread industrial unrest in the run up to the Christmas holiday period and into January as workers struggling with double-digit inflation resort to strike action to demand better pay and working conditions.

The Educational Institute of Scotland said the industrial action would take place between Jan 16 and Feb 6.

“We have been forced into the escalation of this action by the lack of willingness to negotiate properly and to pay teachers properly, by a government that says it wished to be judged on its record on education,” Andrea Bradley, the union’s general secretary said in a statement.

Thousands of Scottish teachers walked out of work on Thursday, leading to the closure of most schools in the country.

Scotland’s education minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said this week the union’s demand for a 10% pay rise was “unaffordable”.