Pupils and parents face threat of school strikes until Christmas after England’s biggest teaching union voted to reject government’s latest pay offer
- National Education Union warned members could be striking until end of year
- Members will decide this week whether to schedule strikes in summer or autumn
Pupils and parents are facing the threat of school strikes until Christmas after England’s biggest teaching union voted to reject the Government’s latest pay offer.
The National Education Union (NEU) warned that members could be striking until the end of the year. Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretary, told the Telegraph: ‘We are not ruling anything out.’
He added that union members would decide this week whether to schedule further strikes in summer and autumn.
The Government’s latest pay offer of a £1,000 one-off bonus as well as a 4.3 per cent pay rise for next year was rejected by members.
The union’s demands are to backdate pay to combat rising inflation as well as an inflation-matching pay increase for next year.
The National Education Union (NEU) warned that members could be striking until the end of the year
Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretary, told the Telegraph : ‘We are not ruling anything out’
He added that union members would decide this week whether to schedule further strikes in summer and autumn
Dr Mary Bousted, also joint NEU general secretary, said the offer was ‘insulting’.
An overwhelming 98 per cent of National Education Union (NEU) teacher members in England, who responded in a consultative ballot, voted to turn down the deal.
READ MORE: Schools face MORE closures from strikes as largest teaching union urges members to reject fresh pay offer – just weeks before millions sit their GCSE exams
The NEU, which had urged its members to reject the offer, plans to hold two further days of teacher strikes on April 27 and May 2.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan called the move ‘extremely disappointing’ and said it would ‘simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers’ as pay will now be decided by the independent pay review body.
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 result of the ballot was announced at the start of the NEU’s annual conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, this morning.
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, 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.’
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