Teaching union members back further strike action over pay in indicative ballot
29 March 2024, 16:45
Teachers represented by the National Education Union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action in an indicative ballot over pay and funding.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
An overwhelming majority of National Education Union (NEU) teacher members in England and Wales who voted in the preliminary ballot were in favour of a strike to secure an above-inflation pay rise and additional funding for staffing.
Over 150,000 NEU teacher members in state schools and sixth forms took part in the electronic ballot.
The union consulted 300,000 of its teacher members working in maintained schools and sixth forms across England and Wales as part of the ballot.
The ballot, which launched on March 2 and closed on Thursday March 28, asked members if they would vote yes to strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise and further funding to provide improved levels of staffing provision.
The NEU, the largest education union in the UK, has said it will consider next steps at a special executive meeting on Tuesday.
In England, which saw 50.3% of members turn out to vote, more than nine in 10 (90.3%) of participants said they would vote yes to strike action.
In Wales, where 54.1% of teacher members turned out to vote, 87.2% said they would vote yes to strike action over pay and funding.
Nearly two-in-three (65.3%) members in Wales who took part in the indicative ballot also said they would support strike action if the Welsh Government reduced the summer break to four weeks.
Read more: Hundreds of Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport to stage four-day strike
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: "This is an indicative, and not a formal ballot.
"But the facts speak for themselves; over half of our members voted in the ballot and overwhelmingly supported a move to a formal ballot to secure a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise which constitutes a meaningful step towards pay restoration.
"The result demonstrates the mass discontent within our profession to which the Government should take notice.
"Urgent steps are required to tackle the crisis in education and our members know this.
"Our annual conference gathers in Bournemouth next week and delegates will determine the next steps in our pay and funding campaign."
The NASUWT union has also been consulting members to measure in a ballot whether its members would be interested in industrial action over pay, workload, working hours and well-being.
The results of the consultative ballot are expected to be announced at their annual conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire over the Easter weekend.
The ballot results come after the Department for Education (DfE) said in evidence to the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) that teachers' pay awards should "return to a more sustainable level" after "two unprecedented years".
Four education unions called off strike action last summer after the Government agreed to implement the STRB's recommendation of a 6.5% increase for teachers in England.
A DfE spokesperson said: "The independent STRB is currently considering evidence for this year's pay award, unions should engage with this process instead of striking before they even know what the pay recommendations are.
"It is therefore extremely disappointing that the NEU has voted to proceed with a formal ballot for industrial action.
"Further strike action would cause more disruption to pupils who have already lost over 25 million school days due to last year's industrial action.
"Overall school funding is rising to over £60 billion in 2024/25, its highest ever level in real terms per pupil - and teachers have already benefited from two historic pay awards totalling over 12% in just two years."
