Commenting on the passing of an urgent motion on pay (1) at the Annual Conference of the National Education Union, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Investment in education, with educators shown the value and respect they deserve, should be a priority in any country. This Government's record on education shows a blatant disregard for children and young people and the teaching profession in England.
“Real-terms pay cuts over the past 13 years have seen the value of teachers' salaries drop compared to other graduate professions. It is one of the factors driving the teacher recruitment and retention crisis in our schools with a third of teachers leaving the profession within five years of qualifying and schools and colleges struggling to fill vacancies.
“As this Education Secretary appears not to care about the run-down and demoralised education system, the NEU will be stepping up our campaign for fair pay for teachers.
“In the run up to local elections this May and an expected general election next year the NEU will be calling on candidates and elected politicians to stand up for education in their local communities.
“If the Government does not resolve the current pay dispute the NEU will reballot members for a renewed mandate for further industrial action in the next academic year.
“Wales and Scotland have both reached settlements on teacher pay. It is about time that the Westminster Government gets serious and gets back round the table to resolve this dispute. What has been offered so far is clearly nothing short of insulting as our ballot showed, with an overwhelming 98% of teacher members in England rejecting the offer.
“Parents and the education profession will be in no doubt that if further industrial action needs to be taken the blame for this will lie squarely at the Government's door.”
Editor’s Note
UM1 Teachers’ pay campaign: engage, pressure, strike
Conference notes:
- The strong support for the initial pattern of strike days in our pay campaign for state-school teachers in England and Wales, not only amongst members but also parents and the wider public
- That our campaign forced the Government to come to the table, negotiate with us, alongside sister unions, and make a new pay offer
- The executive decisions to:
- Reject the new pay offer and, if members vote to endorse the executive recommendation, give notice of two further days of strike action to employers as soon as practicable, and for those days to be Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May
- Draw up plans for strike day activities on those days in the areas most politically sensitive for the Government
- Advise members on dispensation discussions with headteachers for year 11 and 13 revision activities
- That it is vital we plan a programme of escalating strike action, political lobbying and community campaigning that can bring the maximum social weight to bear on the Government throughout the summer term, and beyond. Escalation would either involve a greater number of consecutive days than previously or more frequent strikes.
Conference instructs the executive to:
- Continue to support members, reps and local officers to intensify political lobbying and community campaigning, through:
- Street stalls and community events in every district and branch
- Lobbying MPs and councillors to build at least one Westminster Hall debate in every region
- A national lobby of Parliament
- A series of local and national demonstrations
- Use the period of exams from 15 May to begin a re-ballot of teacher members in England running until the end of July
- Timetable in a 3 day strike in late June/early July to be confirmed by the executive on 18 May
- Prior to May 2nd launch a campaign aimed at members focusing on the date of the re-ballot opening alongside a process of asking them to confirm the home address it will be sent to
- Meet urgently with other teaching unions seeking to reach agreement on joint ballot timescales and publicly offer to them material and organisational assistance to help them reach the required thresholds
- use, a successful ballot result as a response to the STRB Report and to signal a national day of strike action, with a national demonstration in Manchester during the Tory Party Conference in October as part of a programme of action in the autumn term.
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2023-053-NEU