Nadhim Zahawi blinked his eyes and bowed before militant education unions by offering them a huge 9% wage increase in a desperate attempt to quit strike action in the autumn.
The education secretary apparently returned from his position last week that strike would be ‘unforgivable’ by begging Rishi Sunak to pay a pay rise for 130,000 junior teachers in England.
But Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said it was still a pay cut if inflation was taken into account. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “If we do not receive a much better offer, we will want our members to vote in October.”
The union leader added that even under a ‘best case scenario’, less than half of new teachers would start training this September – with just 12 confirmed places in DT, 40 in physics and 41 in modern languages.
This came after the NEU threatened with industrial action if the government did not increase its supply for most teachers. The NASUWT Teachers’ Union has also threatened to vote members for industrial action in November if the salary increase this year is less than 12%.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi addressed the local government association’s annual conference at Harrogate Convention Center, North Yorkshire, yesterday.
Mary Bousted, Secretary General of the NEW, on ITV’s Peston program on 22 June 2022
Last week, Mr Zahawi said education unions striking after the disruption faced by students in the pandemic would be ‘unforgivable’ and ‘unfair’.
In March, the Education Secretary said that the unions should ‘show self-control’ by accepting 3%.
But he is now presumably the first cabinet minister to question the chancellor about his calls for a pay cut due to concerns that inflation could be fueled by large salary increases.
There are 130,000 teachers in England in the first five years of their careers, which will be affected by the proposed 9% increase.
A 5% increase will be proposed for the remaining 380 000 teachers in England, instead of the Government’s planned initial figure of 3%.
In a letter to the education secretary, the unions said: ‘You must respond to the new economic reality of double-digit inflation and the threat it poses to teachers’ living standards.
‘We urge you to commit to an inflation-plus increase for all teachers.
‘A clear and unambiguous signal that educators are valued, with undifferentiated inflation-plus salary increases for all teachers, is urgently needed. And you have to fund schools accordingly. ‘
A source told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Nadhim Zahawi has made it clear that the quality of education is the single most important factor within a school for children’s outcomes and we need to make education an even more attractive profession.
“Teachers deserve a salary increase and the Government wants to prevent any strikes.”
Amid last week’s crippling rail strikes, Mr Zahawi wrote in The Daily Telegraph: ‘Young people have suffered more disruption than any generation that has gone before them.
“And to make matters worse now, as recovery is in full swing and families are thinking about their next big step to school or college, it would be unforgivable and unfair.”
The NEU has criticized the government’s evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body proposing a 3% pay rise for most teachers in England, which they say would mean a ‘huge’ pay cut based on Wednesday’s 9.1% inflation rate on the CPI measure and 11.7% for RPI.
Deputy General Secretary at NEU, Niamh Sweeney, told Sky News that a teacher strike ‘is more likely than it has been in my 20 years of working in the profession’.
This comes after staff at the country’s largest examination board, AQA, voted in favor of strikes.
Real household disposable income fell by 0.2 percent between January and March, as income growth of 1.5 percent was surpassed by household inflation of 1.7 percent. This is the longest series of drops since official figures were compiled in 1955
HMRC figures show that nearly two million people have been dragged into the higher and additional tax rates over the past three years
If grades are delayed, students may have to call universities to beg for their place to be held or run the risk of losing it.
Unison, which represents about 160 of the 1,200 staff members at AQA, said the strike was supported by 71%. A turnout threshold of 50% required to win ballots for strikes was also reached.
Many more AQA staff in the Unite union are also considering a strike.
Unison Regional Organizer Lizanne Devonport said: “Staff have shown that they are clearly dissatisfied with the way they are being treated.”
AQA said that salary increases would actually average 5.6% and are ‘higher than many organizations’.
This came when Royal Mail executives and more railway workers also voted to strike.
TSSA members at Avanti West Coast voted 86% in favor of strikes at a 66% turnout. No strike dates have been set in the payment dispute.
Unite said it would announce strike dates in the Royal Mail drivers dispute in the coming days. It said the firm plans to cut 542 delivery managers’ jobs.