One-off payment ‘unlikely to stop teacher strikes’
Three teaching union ballots will close this week, with bosses summoned to Westminster in bid to break deadlock
A one-off payment to teachers would be unlikely to avert strike action, the head of one of the UK’s largest teaching unions has warned.
Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “If the Government is serious, they have to do two things – they have to put more money on the table now.
“A one-off payment may sound superficially attractive, but that brings all sorts of problems with it. We want a pay rise that is incorporated into pay in a proper way.”
Ms Bousted was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of a meeting between teaching unions and Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, to discuss the threat of industrial action.
Unions representing medics and transport staff have also been summoned to Westminster on Monday.
Ministers have indicated that they will not offer pay increases for the 2022-23 financial year, but are considering a one-off payment to NHS workers.
Ms Bousted said: “If this meeting is going to have any outcome, then Gillian Keegan has to tell us if there is new money on the table for an increase in the pay offer this year.”
She told reporters the scheduled hour-long meeting was “not sufficient for the problem that we face” and she has “never seen teachers so angry” about “12 years of neglect of state education”.
The NEU was invited to talks with the Education Secretary on Monday, alongside the leaders of the NASUWT, NAHT and ASCL teaching unions, about the threat of industrial action.
Three teaching union ballots will close this week. If they secure enough votes to strike, the unions plan to co-ordinate strike action in England and Wales to cause as many school closures as possible.
They have rejected the Government’s five per cent pay increase offer and are demanding above-inflation pay rises that are fully funded.
Ms Keegan has indicated that the Government will be able to be more generous when inflation starts to fall.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “There are no great schools without great teachers, which is why we are making the highest pay awards in a generation – five per cent for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an 8.9 per cent increase to starting salary.
“We are also investing an additional £2 billion in schools next year and £2 billion the year after, taking school funding to its highest ever level.
“After two years of disrupted education for young people, strike action is simply not a reasonable solution. Union leaders have been invited to meet with ministers on Monday to have honest conversations about what is responsible and what is affordable for our country when it comes to pay.”