A teaching union leader has warned the education secretary that “further dithering and delay will only deepen the anger of teachers”, ahead of pay talks tomorrow.
Education unions are set to meet with Gillian Keegan tomorrow for the first time since teacher members of the NEU union went on strike earlier this month.
The Scottish government has already said that a new pay offer will be put to teachers there “within the next few days”.
And teacher strike action that was scheduled to take place today in Wales was suspended in the wake of an improved offer from the Welsh government.
But negotiations in England have so far failed to reach a resolution to the pay dispute. The government has not increased the pay offer it announced last July of 5 per cent for experienced teachers
Speaking ahead of the meeting in Westminster tomorrow morning, Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said the union welcomed the opportunity to meet with the secretary of state again but added that he now needed to hear ”specific proposals” to “address our members’ concerns”.
He said it was ”unacceptable” that ministers had so far “failed to come forward with any proposals for our members to consider”.
“Our members’ patience is being sorely tested,” he said. “Further dithering and delay will only deepen the anger of teachers, who are enduring excessive workload pressures coupled with the largest real-terms cuts to their pay on record.”
Further teacher strikes planned over pay
Dr Roach added that a resolution could “only be achieved” if proposals are laid on the table.
While the NASUWT ballot over strike action failed to meet the legal minimum threshold for turnout, Dr Roach confirmed that the union was still in a formal dispute with ministers and employers.
Other union leaders are similarly urging the government to put an improved pay offer on the table.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “While it is positive that the secretary of state is talking to us, the government is fast running out of time to do the right thing, and what we really need to see now is a concrete pay offer.”
He added that members have ”waited long enough after enduring more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts, which are fuelling a really worrying recruitment and retention crisis against a backdrop of a mounting workload, long hours and the legacy of the pandemic”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he hoped this week’s talks “will involve some sort of offer from the government”.
And Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, which has plans for further strike action, said the Westminster government was “alone in its refusal to negotiate seriously with the education unions on behalf of the teaching workforce”.
“We go to the meeting tomorrow in hope but frankly without much expectation,” he said.
Last week Mr Courtney told Tes that the union would be willing to take less than an above-inflation pay offer from Ms Keegan, and said all serious offers would be considered.
On the first NEU strike day on 1 February, it is estimated that around 300,000 teachers walked out across the country, and DfE data from the day suggested that 54 per cent of schools restricted attendance, with 9.3 per cent of those fully closed.
The next planned strike date is 28 February. with walkouts across the union’s Northern, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber regions.
Further national strike dates are set to take place in March.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
