Jessica O'ConnorThe National Education Union (NEU) has announced plans to formally ballot teachers and support staff in England for strike action over pay and workload.
The union’s national executive confirmed the decision on Saturday, 9th May, with ballots for staff in state-maintained schools set to open on 3rd October and close on 15th December.
The NEU said early indications suggest the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body and decisions made by the Chancellor and Education Secretary will not deliver a fully funded pay award above inflation, nor sufficient funding to prevent redundancies and rising workloads in schools.
The union said the formal ballot follows indicative ballots held between February and April, in which teachers and support staff overwhelmingly backed strike action over 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.”
Kebede added: “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.”
