More strikes planned as teachers reject pay offeron April 3, 2023 at 10:23 am

Teachers in England will strike on Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May after members of the UK’s largest education union overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer.

The National Education Union described the offer as “insulting” and has “united the profession in its outrage”.

The results of the NEU ballot found that 98% of NEU members were in favour of turning the deal down.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said it was “extremely disappointing”.

Teachers were offered a £1,000 one-off payment this year, and a 4.3% rise next year. Starting salaries would also rise to £30,000 from September.

Speaking at the annual conference in Harrogate, Joint General Secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said the offer was “unacceptable”, “is not fully funded” and it did not deal with the shortage of teachers in schools.

In a ballot over the government’s pay offer, 191,319 NEU members voted to reject the deal with a 66% turnout.

After hearing the announcement, delegates at the conference chanted “Come on Gill, pay the bill”.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the NEU’s decision to reject the pay offer “will simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers today”.

“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,” she said.

Ms Keegan said pay will now be decided by the independent pay review body, which will recommend pay rises for next year. The £1,000 payment for this year will be lost, she added.

The pay review body previously recommended a 3% rise from September 2023.

Mary Bousted confirmed plans to support GCSE and A-level students during the upcoming strike days and she said they have been speaking to head teachers to make sure those pupils are in class for exam preparations.

She is calling on ministers to “reopen negotiations” on pay and said there could be more strike dates during the summer term.

More than 50% of schools closed or restricted attendance on the national strikes days, according to government data.

Four unions have been involved in intensive talks with the government and are calling for above-inflation pay rises, funded by additional money from the government, rather than coming from schools’ existing budgets.

Three other unions, the NASUWT, Association of School and College Leaders and school leaders’ union NAHT are also balloting members on the offer.

School leaders’ union, the NAHT, is also asking if members would take industrial action if the pay offer is rejected.

NAHT members voted in favour of strike action in January – but turnout was 42%, below the legal requirement of 50%.

Teacher salaries fell by an average of 11% between 2010 and 2022, after taking inflation into account, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.

The government says it is giving schools an extra £2.3bn over the next two years.

Katie Cooke is a NEU member from Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent who took part in the first teacher strike earlier this year. But she says she cannot afford to take part in any more as she does not get paid when striking

“As a single parent… I am struggling with the cost of living, with inflation, and feeding my family. Holidays are out of the picture… all the while I’m in a teaching profession at a reasonably high level.”

She says she spends her evenings on her laptop working and teachers “are now the frontline” for many struggling families.

“It matters to us teachers when we are striking because we know it is affecting our children, even just the one day makes a difference to their education. For the sake of the children we don’t want to strike, but we are being pushed to do so.”

Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney from the NEU also questioned why teachers in England were “worth less” that those in Scotland and Wales.

In Scotland, the dispute has been resolved after teachers accepted a 7% rise for 2022/23, which will be backdated to April. They have also accepted a 5% rise in April 2023, and a 2% rise in January 2024.

In Wales, the NEU, have agreed on an increased pay offer of 8% for 2022/23, which consists of a 6.5% annual pay rise and a one-off lump sum payment, as well as a 5% pay rise for 2023/24.

But Wales’ school leaders’ union, NAHT Cymru, has rejected the offer and says funding arrangements remain a major concern for school leaders. Members are continuing to take action short of strikes – which includes refusing to attend evening meetings and only responding to calls and emails between 09:00 and 15:00 BST.

In Northern Ireland, five unions are also continuing to take action short of a strike.

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