Teachers in England are set to strike again in the following months as the largest teachers union overwhelmingly rejected the government’s pay offer.
Strikes will go ahead on April 27 and May 2 unless Education Secretary Gillian Keegan can reach an agreement with the union before then, the National Education Union (NEU) said on Monday.
Schools could also face another three days of strikes in June and July, as well as more strikes in the autumn, after the union passed a motion on Tuesday.
Keegan said the teaching union’s rejection of the offer will result in “more disruption for children and less money for teachers,” adding that it is “extremely disappointing.”
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) union also rejected the government’s pay offer, the union said on Tuesday.
Following intensive talks with education unions, the government offered teachers a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year, an average 4.5 percent pay rise for staff next year, and some working condition reforms.
The government said existing school budgets can cover a 4 percent pay rise next year because energy costs are forecast to fall at a faster rate than previously expected. A new grant will cover the rest of the pay rise next year and the one-off payment this year.
But the offer has so far been overwhelmingly rejected by the two unions.
The union said the offer was “not fully funded,” would widen the pay gap between teachers in England and their colleagues in Wales and Scotland, and would “represent another two years of real-terms pay cuts.”
“It would do nothing to reverse the problems of recruitment and retention in our schools,” it said in a statement.
An urgent motion on teachers’ pay was passed on Tuesday, calling on the NEU executive to “use the period of exams from May 15 to begin a re-ballot of teacher members in England running until the end of July.”
If successful, the ballot could lead to a programme of action in the autumn term, as well as a national demonstration in Manchester during the Conservative Party conference in October.
The motion also calls on the union to timetable a three-day strike in late June and early July, which would be confirmed by the executive in mid-May.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said on Tuesday, “If the government does not resolve the current pay dispute, the NEU will re-ballot members for a renewed mandate for further industrial action in the next academic year.”
Courtney told reporters on Monday: “If I was the government, I would be very worried about our capacity to carry on the campaign.
“I think the ballot result we have announced today proves that we can win a re-ballot. I think they would think that we wouldn’t win a re-ballot. We will,” he said.
“We will win a re-ballot and that will take us into next year and into their election year.”
ASCL on Tuesday said 56 percent of eligible members voted on the offer, with 87 percent voting to reject it.
The school leaders union asked those who voted not to provide a reason. Almost 70 percent said the offer is not fully funded, 29 percent wanted a better offer, and 2 percent said other measures in the offer are inadequate.
Commenting on Monday in response to the NEU’s rejection of the government’s pay offer, 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.”
“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 added.
“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,” she said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to be drawn on whether the offer of a one-off payment of £1,000 for teachers would be revoked following the NEU’s decision to push forward with strikes.
Asked by broadcasters during a visit to Rochdale whether the payment would go ahead, he said: “We’ve made a very reasonable pay offer worth around 8 percent on average for teachers, worth up to 13 percent for new teachers combined with reductions on workload, and for the NEU teaching union to be striking in the face of that and impacting children’s education, particularly in the run-up to the exams, is extremely disappointing.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged teaching unions and the government to get around the negotiating table to resolve the dispute.
He 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.”
He 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.”
Members of the NASUWT teaching union 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.
The NAHT has said it could move to a second formal industrial action ballot if its members turn down the government’s pay offer.
On Monday, the British Medical Association announced plans to ballot NHS consultants in England for strike action from May 15 if the government does not meet its demands over pay.
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More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union at eight sites are walking out in an escalation of the long-running row.
