A SCOTTISH trade union has threatened legal action against a group who have been allegedly asking their members to record teachers and students in online lessons.

The Us For Them campaign group have been accused of “causing alarm and distress” for some Scots teachers “in what is already a time of unprecedented stress and uncertainty”.

In a letter sent to the group’s leadership, Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS) general secretary Larry Flanagan asks that they “cease and desist from calling upon your supporters to provide you with footage of home learning”.

Flanagan says that the recording and sharing of footage “is actionable” and warns that the group may be exposing its members to legal action by “encouraging individuals to break the law”.

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The EIS secretary highlights that teachers have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” when conducting their lessons. This is a key legal test often used when counterbalancing the eighth article of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to privacy) against the tenth (the right to freedom of expression).

The trade union also says it “does not believe” the Us For Them group has any legal basis for “monitoring and/or sharing” footage without the consent of teachers. It highlights article 6(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to reinforce this claim.

The Us For Them group’s stated aim is to ensure that children are “put first in decisions impacting them”. It argues that “the voice of parents has been woefully lacking in decisions in response to coronavirus” and that “the catastrophic impact that this has had on children is now clear”.

The National: Us For Them's website argues that schools should be kept open through the pandemicUs For Them's website argues that schools should be kept open through the pandemic

Us For Them’s Facebook group currently has 13,000 members. Among many posts and comments that seem to come from parents concerned about the impact lockdown and remote learning will take on their children’s mental health, the group is rife with Covid conspiracy theories.

One popular post presents an FOI request received from NHS Tayside Hospitals which shows just six people had died in their facilities “solely due to Covid-19” up until December 30, 2020.

Underneath the post others claim to have also been sending FOI requests to other Scottish health boards for the same purpose. They claim the low death toll “solely” from coronavirus proves the pandemic is a “con” and that the media will not report on these “facts” as “truth isn't fashionable”.

Professor Linda Bauld, the Bruce and John Usher Chair of Public Health in The Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh, told The National that Covid being the sole cause of death is a “rare” situation, as the virus can cause other issues which would also be listed on the death certificate, such as “pneumonia and fatal respiratory distress”.

READ MORE: STV viewers 'baffled' as anti-masker is given platform on Scotland Tonight

Elsewhere in the group, users claim that lockdowns “do not work”, share posts from lockdown-sceptic websites, and claim the pandemic as a whole is part of a grand conspiracy known as the “great reset”, which is “the systematic destruction of our society” by Government, according to one of the members.

STV previously came under fire for platforming Jo Bisset, one of the group's administrators, to argue against the use of masks in schools on their Scotland Tonight programme. 

Posts on the group's Facebook from another of the administrators encourage members to sign a petition against the mandatory use of masks in schools.

Us For Them has been contacted for comment.