By Gavin Mackintosh-
Teachers in England will strike on Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May after members of the UK’s largest education union rejected a pay offer they described as insulting.
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 National Education Union described the offer as “insulting” and has “united the profession in its outrage”. 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.
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”.
Speaking at a NEU conference in Harrogate, joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said the offer is “unacceptable” and crucially it is “not fully funded”.
They 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
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, adding that 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.
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Schools in England are now facing fresh teachers’ strikes after teachers with the National Education Union (NEU) rejected the government’s pay offer.
The teacher’s union announced on Monday that the offer has been rejected by an “overwhelming” 98 per cent of members in England, after a turnout of 66 per cent.
The NEU had called the offer “insulting” and encouraged its members to reject it.
After a period of intensive talks with unions, the government offered teachers a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year and an average 4.5 per cent pay rise for staff next year.
Speaking at a NEU conference in Harrogate, joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said the offer is “unacceptable” and crucially it is “not fully funded”.
They 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.
“These strikes are more than three weeks away; Gillian Keegan can avoid them.”
It comes after schools around the country contended with several days of industrial action in February and March, resulting in the closure of several schools.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged teaching unions and the government to get around the negotiating table.
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.”
Dr Bousted insisted the strikes will not disrupt GCSEs and A Levels.
She told 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 also said more generous offers by the Welsh and Scottish governments would “certainly be a basis for a decent offer” and urged education secretary Gillian Keegan to negotiate to avert fresh industrial action.
She added: “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.”