The National Education Union (the largest teaching union in England) has announced that it will vote on strike action.
The NEU said that the government’s proposed 2,8% pay increase for workers in the public sector “insulted” the profession, and claimed Labour betrayed the thousands of teachers who elected them to office last year.
The union decided to conduct a preliminary online vote to gauge the strength of feelings. This will be followed by an indicative ballot between 1 March and 10 April.
The summer term is when it’s most likely that there will be industrial action.
Daniel Kebede (General Secretary of the NEU) said that “the problems with teacher pay are still far from being resolved.”
Since 2010, the pay of teachers in England has decreased by a fifth. It is no longer possible to fill the many vacancies in the teaching profession with enough graduates.
He said that the 2,8% proposal “is not sufficient to begin to address the crisis of recruitment and retention”.
Teachers and other workers in the public sector received a 5.5% pay increase above inflation for the 2024-25 salary year
In 2023, eight days of nationwide strikes were held in schools after a series pay proposals below inflation. The NEU claimed that thousands of teachers had “voted for change that Labour promised to education”.
Kebede said: “The suggestion an unfunded award could be paid by making efficiencies is an insult to an industry that has already endured fourteen years of austerity.
“No teacher, no leader can identify efficiencies if they don’t cut staff or resources. The government is well aware of this fact. After years of funding cuts, there’s nothing left to spend.
They promised to invest in the education of our children, recruit 6,500 educators and value education.
We need to see that their words are backed up by actions. The lack of teacher vacancies will not be filled by sentiment alone, nor will it provide the children with the world-class education they deserve.
The Department of Education spokesperson said that the NEU vote was “an exceptional decision”.
In three years, the combined salary of teachers has increased by over 17%.
“Union leaderships should think hard and long about who they are serving, especially as schools and families do everything possible to improve attendance and after millions of days were lost due to the pandemic, or recent industrial action.
The government and education secretary always put the children first.
This week, teachers at sixth-form colleges went on strike (7-9 January), after they rejected what they called a “two tier pay system” within the sector.
Teachers in sixth-form colleges that are academised have received a 5.5% pay rise. Those in sixth-form colleges which are not academised have received a 3.5% raise from September to April and a 5.5% increase from April.
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