Teachers tell ministers to 'stop burying head in sand' and offer pay deal
Teachers have demanded the Education Secretary “stop burying her head in the sand” and bring a new pay offer to a crunch meeting today.
The National Education Union will hold talks with Gillian Keegan in bid to avert strikes due to start on February 1.
Hundreds of thousands of workers across the public sector are expected to take part in walkouts on that day.
Train drivers with Aslef and the RMT unions and university staff are the latest to confirm they will take action on February 1, joining teachers in the NEU and around 100,000 civil servants in the PCS.
The NEU is planning a total of seven days of walkouts in February and March. The industrial action could affect more than 23,000 schools.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Teachers will join hundreds of thousands of public sector workers striking on February 1 (Getty Images)A poll yesterday showed the majority of the public support the walkouts.
The YouGov survey showed 51% back the teachers’ strike, with 41% against.
The Department for Education has offered a 5% pay rise to most teachers for the current school year, but the NEU is demanding a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the union, said: "Gillian Keegan needs to approach these talks with an understanding of the desperate state that the education profession is in and a willingness to do something about it.
“Due to a toxic mix of excessive workload and poor pay, teaching is no longer an attractive profession. The facts speak for themselves.
“Teachers are leaving the profession in droves and the Government is failing to meet by a long shot its recruitment targets for new teachers.”
Teaching union chief Dr Mary Bousted wants ministers to offer a new pay deal (Daily Mirror)Dr Bousted added: “No teacher or support staff member wants to be taking strike action but if there is no significant and meaningful negotiation occurring it will be the only option left.
“All of this can be avoided but only if Gillian Keegan stops burying her head in the sand and faces up to the consequences of decades of underinvestment in education and the underpaying of teachers and support staff."
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The Conservative government will not resolve pay disputes by rushing in new laws that attack the right to strike. The best way to settle disputes is around the negotiating table – and with credible pay offers that protect workers from rising prices.”
The leader of headteachers’ union yesterday warned schools may have "no choice" but to close their doors to pupils during strikes.
Sunak branded 'pathetic' for attempt to pin blame on Labour for mass strikes
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "A school leader's first priority is always the safety of the pupils in their school.
"So if staffing numbers are dangerously low, it may be that leaders have no choice but to be compelled to close schools on safety grounds."
Guidance from the DfE suggests that agency staff and volunteers could be used to cover classes on strike days, with schools expected to remain open where possible, although remote learning is also an option and the most vulnerable pupils are to be given priority.
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