Fresh strike hell for schools this spring as teachers’ union rejects Government pay offer
- An overwhelming 98 per cent of NEU members voted to continue strike action
- The walkouts are set to take place on April 27 and May 2 after the latest ballot
Teachers are set to heap more strike chaos on parents this spring after union members voted to reject the Government’s latest pay offer.
An overwhelming 98% of National Education Union (NEU) teacher members in England, who responded in a consultative ballot, voted to turn down the deal.
The NEU, which had urged its members to reject the ‘insulting’ offer, plans to hold two further days of teacher strikes on April 27 and May 2.
After a period of intensive talks with unions, teachers rejected an offer from the Government of a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year and an average 4.5% pay rise for staff in the next academic year.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan called the move ‘extremely disappointing’ and said it would ‘simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers’ as pay will now be decided by the independent pay review body.
Teachers attend a demonstration in central London on March 15. Members of the NEU have voted to continue strike action
Dr Mary Bousted, pictured here at a demonstration in London on March 15, said the result was a ‘resounding rejection of the Government’s offer’
Just over 191,000 members of the NEU, which is the largest teaching union in Britain, voted to reject this offer in favour of continuing strike action just months after many schools in England were forced to partially or fully close during the last set of walkouts.
The result of the ballot was announced at the start of the NEU’s annual conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, this morning.
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: ‘This resounding rejection of the Government’s offer should leave Gillian Keegan in no doubt that she will need to come back to the negotiating table with a much better proposal.
‘The offer shows an astounding lack of judgment and understanding of the desperate situation in the education system.
‘We have today written to the Education Secretary informing her of the next two days of strike action on April 27 and May 2 that NEU teacher members in England will now be taking.
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‘These strikes are more than three weeks away; Gillian Keegan can avoid them.’
Previously the NEU said the offer fell ‘well short’ of what it believes is acceptable and accused the government of refusing to fully fund it, suggesting the rise would have to come out of existing school budgets.
In the vote, which took place over the course of last week, 98 per cent of members rejected the pay offer with a turnout of 66 per cent.
Dr Bousted and Mr Courtney added: ‘No teacher wants to be on strike. Nor can they accept this offer that does nothing to address the decades of below inflation pay increases making them the worst paid teachers in the UK.
‘The offer will do nothing to stem the teacher recruitment and retention crisis which is so damaging to our children and young people’s education.
‘The education secretary has united the profession in its outrage at this insulting pay offer. It is now for her to rectify that situation by starting to value education.
‘The NEU is ready as we have stated all along to negotiate with ministers, but this time we hope a lesson has been learnt. Gillian Keegan needs to start negotiations with respect for the profession she is supposedly representing in Government.
‘To parents we say that we have no wish to disrupt education, indeed our action is aimed at getting the Government to invest in the education of this generation of children and the people who teach them.
‘We are asking our school reps to plan with head teachers to ensure that year 11 and year 13 students have a full programme of education on the upcoming strike days.’
Striking teachers march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square in London on March 15.
Dr Bousted insisted the strike action would not impact on students taking their GCSEs and A-Levels.
She Kay Burley on Sky News: ‘We are asking all the local districts, and they will do this, to have dispensations for children taking exams in years 11 and year 13.
‘We want them in school preparing for their exams and we will make local arrangements to make sure that happens. It will not disrupt the exam work because that is the last thing we want to do.’
She added that the Government should use the pay offers by the Welsh and Scottish governments as a guide for what would ‘be a basis for a decent offer’.
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She said: ‘Gillian Keegan needs to stop the bullying tactics, she needs to start reading the room, she needs to start listening to teachers. These are not union barons, it’s not me making members reject this offer, they had a free private vote.
‘They know what they’re rejecting, they know it’s not good enough and crucially they know its not properly funded. They know even this offer if it is paid out either children will have less equipment or there will be fewer support staff in schools.’
However, the Government has hit back, calling the decision to strike ‘extremely disappointing’.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: ‘After costing children almost a week of time in the classroom and with exams fast approaching, it is extremely disappointing that the NEU have called more strike action.
‘Following a week negotiating in good faith, the Government offered teachers a £1,000 payment on top of this year’s pay rise, a commitment to significantly cut workload, and a headline pay increase of 4.5% for next year – above both inflation and average earnings growth.
‘The offer was funded, including major new investment of over half a billion pounds, in addition to the record funding already planned for school budgets.
‘The NEU’s decision to reject it will simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers today. Pay will now be decided by the independent pay review body which will recommend pay rises for next year.’
Members of the NASUWT teaching union, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) are also being asked for feedback on the Government’s offer.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said last week that industrial action by school leaders will be ‘necessary’ if NAHT members decide to reject the Government’s ‘inadequate’ pay offer.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, pictured on the Peston TV show on March 29, said rejecting the pay deal ‘will simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers today’
In January, a ballot of NAHT members failed to meet the mandatory 50% turnout threshold required for strike action.
But the NAHT has said it could move to a second formal industrial action ballot if its members turn down the Government’s pay offer.
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged teaching unions and the Government to get around the negotiating table following reports that teachers have voted to reject the latest pay offer.
Sir Keir told LBC: ‘I am disappointed because I want to see this resolved. Obviously it is back around the negotiating table now but I would urge both sides to compromise and to come to an agreement as quickly as possible.’
The Labour leader added: ‘Obviously I support their right to take industrial action, it is very important I say that.
‘But I will be clear, I don’t want to see industrial action and that is why I want the Government around the table resolving this. It is possible to resolve these disputes, and the sooner the Government gets on with that the better.’
It comes as a survey suggested nearly half of teachers feel their workload is unmanageable most or all of the time.
The majority of teachers said increased funding to pay for more staff (88%), a less punitive inspection system (79%) and smaller class sizes (73%) would have a ‘big positive impact’ on their workload in the coming year.
A poll of more than 17,800 National Education Union (NEU) members in England and Wales found that 35% of teachers viewed their workload as unmanageable most of the time and 13% said they felt this all of the time.
It also found that more than a third (37%) of teachers, and around a fifth (21%) of support staff, said they feel stressed at work 80% or more of the time.
An additional 31% of teachers surveyed, and a further quarter (25%) of support staff, said this is the case 60% to 79% of the time.
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