THE NATIONAL Executive of the NEU (National Education Union) is moving to formal ballots for strike action over pay and funding.
The formal ballots of teachers and support staff in state-maintained schools in England will open on 3rd October and close on 15th December.
Early reports indicate that the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) report and the decisions of the Chancellor and Education Secretary will not result in a fully-funded pay offer for teachers that exceeds inflation, nor in sufficient funding for schools to prevent redundancies and rises in workload.
The NEU said: ‘We will move to formally ballot our members for strike action in October if the government does not take urgent action to address these issues. This is part of the NEU’s campaign to save education.’
The formal ballot follows NEU indicative ballots of teachers and support staff in England, carried out between February and April. Members voted overwhelmingly in support of strike action over the issue of pay, funding and workload.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: ‘The cracks in our education system are obvious to all. Schools are running on empty.
‘Pay and workload issues are driving many out of the profession, resulting in a recruitment and retention crisis that is directly impacting on the education of our children and young people.
‘Enough is enough. Unfunded below-inflation pay increases are an insult. The government is well aware that schools do not have the money to fund them.
‘If ministers insist that any pay rise must be carved out of already decimated school budgets, then it is a wilful rejection of reality. It completely fails to understand what our schools are having to cope with.
‘No member wants to be taking strike action. To avoid this collision course the government needs to step up and deliver the properly funded education system our children and young people deserve. It is time to save education.’