A teaching union leader has warned that they do not expect to reach a new pay deal with education secretary Gillian Keegan at today’s talks.
Speaking ahead of the talks, which started this morning, Kevin Courtney (pictured), joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “We’re going in with hope but we’re not going in with a great deal of expectation.”
Education union bosses and Department for Education officials are meeting today to discuss teacher pay for the first time since the NEU carried out its first national strike day in the ongoing dispute on 1 February.
Mr Courtney said: “I hope I’m wrong, but it’s very disappointing. If I’m right, it’s very disappointing if there’s no offer today because there are real issues that Gillian Keegan should be addressing.
“I hope [the meeting] is not just going through the motions, and so we’re going in with hope. But our expectations are quite low.”
So far, negotiations in England have failed to find 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.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said this morning that the government had been “left exposed” in England by the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland making pay offers to striking teachers.
Keegan ‘under pressure’ on teacher pay
Dr Roach said: “Now the pressure is on the Westminster government, the pressure is on Gillian Keegan to come forward with an offer that our members can consider seriously.”
Scottish teachers’ unions are to be offered an 11.5 per cent pay rise over two years for their members.
And teacher strike action that was scheduled to take place yesterday in Wales was suspended in the wake of an improved offer from the Welsh government.
However, the NEU today rejected this pay offer from the Welsh government - an extra 1.5 per cent, plus 1.5 per cent as a one-off payment, on top of the previous pay offer of 5 per cent.
Talks at the DfE are expected to last an hour today.
