Teachers in England to strike for two days in July, NEU announces

The National Education Union (NEU) has announced that teachers in England will go on strike over their salaries on two dates in July.

Nationwide strikes are planned for July 5th and 7th. Many schools are expected to be fully or partially closed.

The NEU calls for a resumption of negotiations with the government and describes strikes as a “last resort”.

The Department of Education said further strike action would cause “real damage” to students’ learning.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan previously said the strike action was “hugely disappointing”.

Since February there have already been five national and three regional days of strikes by members of NEU, the UK’s largest education union.

The recent May 2 disaster affected more schools than ever before – less than half of schools (45.3%) were fully open.

dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said the education secretary had “turned her back” on teachers in England.

They urged Ms Keegan to sit down at the negotiating table, saying her demands have repeatedly “fallen on rocky ground”.

It is within their power to stop these strikes, added Dr. Bousted and Mr Courtney in a joint statement.

Most state school teachers in England received a 5% pay rise for 2022-23. The government also offered a one-off cash payment of £1,000, but this was lost when talks broke down.

The unions want the offer to be higher to account for inflation and for any pay rise to be funded by additional government money rather than the schools’ existing budgets.

The government has offered most teachers a 4.3% pay rise for 2023-2024, with starting salaries reaching £30,000.

The Department for Education described it as a “fair and reasonable offer” and said schools would receive an extra £2.3billion over the next two years.

It was said that, on average across England, the offer was fully funded. This relates to the national picture and each school will be affected differently.

But talks stalled after all four unions rejected the government’s offer on the grounds that most schools would have to make cuts elsewhere to be able to afford it.

They are urging the government to publish the recommendations of the independent Pay Review Board, which is advising what pay increases teachers should be offered over the next year.

Oldfield Primary School in Chester was partially closed on previous strike days and will remain so for the July strikes.

Principal Alan Brown says the last thing teachers want to do is go on strike as their students have already missed classes due to the pandemic.

But he says the dispute is about “the future of these children” and “not just about teachers’ pay.”

“This is about funding the schools,” he says.

“We have seen a decrease in the funds available to us. We’re getting more money in our budgets, don’t get me wrong, but it costs a lot more money to run a school and something actually needs to be done.” Bring us back together.

In Leeds, business owner Virginia Nnomo has three children, all of whom have had to stay at home on previous days of strikes. She’s weighing childcare costs and whether it’s worth opening her salon for the upcoming strikes.

“The cost of a babysitter is very high and she charges me per child. So when I weigh it, maybe it’s better to stay home — but I’ll lose money, that’s for sure,” Virginia says.

Kate, a doctor at the local hospital, was forced to take time off work because her seven-year-old daughter’s primary school was closed on earlier days of the strike. But she says she fully supports the teachers.

“In my opinion, they don’t get enough money, so I’m happy to manipulate things so that we can support them,” she says, adding that she hopes the dispute will be resolved soon.

Three other teaching unions, NAHT, NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), are also electing members for fall semester strike action.

The four unions say they will coordinate this action to maximize the disruption – which the government calls “unreasonable”.

Elsewhere in the UK, teachers in Northern Ireland and NAHT members in Wales continue to take action without going on strike. In Scotland, the wage dispute ended after a revised wage offer from the Scottish Government.

An Education Ministry spokesman said the strike would cause disruption to parents across the country.

“Thousands of schools will receive significant additional funding as part of the €2 billion incremental investment (Institute for Financial Studies think tank).”

As usual, the Government’s School Teachers Review Board has submitted its recommendations on pay for 2023/24, the spokesman said, adding it would review the recommendations and publish them “in the usual way”.