Teachers in England’s biggest teaching union have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in an indicative ballot over teacher pay and school funding.
Figures released today show 90.3 per cent of the NEU teaching union’s members who voted in the preliminary ballot said yes to strike action, with a turnout of 50.3 per cent.
The ballot, which ran this month and closed yesterday, asked members if they were willing to take strike action over a “fully funded pay increase, as a meaningful step to achieve a long-term correction in pay”.
‘Mass discontent remains’
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “This is preliminary, but the facts speak for themselves. Mass discontent remains within the profession.”
The NEU is set to hold its annual conference in Bournemouth next week, where it is expected the union will decide on whether to move to a formal ballot over strike action.
Sixth-form college teachers were also balloted over strike action, with 88 per cent voting yes with a turnout of 67.3 per cent.
At least 50 per cent of eligible members must respond for a formal ballot to establish a legal mandate for strike action.
In Wales, 54.1 per cent of eligible members voted, with 87.2 per cent saying yes to action.
Last year, the government was faced with months of teacher walkouts by NEU members, and all four major education unions backed industrial action in disputes over pay and workload.
That action mostly came to a halt after all the unions accepted a pay offer from the Department for Education, resulting in a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers and leaders.
However, the NASUWT teaching union has been carrying out industrial action since September last year, with the union instructing eligible members to limit their working time by working to rule.
NASUWT has been consulting its members in recent weeks to gauge whether they would be interested in taking industrial action on pay, workload, working hours and wellbeing.
The results of the union’s consultative ballot - on possible industrial action to secure a better deal for teachers - are expected to be announced at its annual conference, which starts today in Harrogate.
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