“If you have a different set of pay increases, that means that experienced teachers are basically subsidizing beginning teachers,” she told The Telegraph.
“They have already done enough to subsidize everyone and suffer from budget cuts. We want a fully funded general pay increase for all teachers.”
She said that teachers who have been employed for a long time “don’t feel valued”.
“They are well aware that the value of their wages has fallen by a fifth in the last ten years.”
Mr Zahawi wants to give England’s 130,000 teachers an increase of up to nine per cent in the first five years of their career from September as part of steps to raise starting salaries to £30,000. The remaining 380,000 teachers in England are in line with the five percent increase.
Mr Zahawi’s decision to support a five percent improved wage offer comes after it was recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body, an independent panel appointed by the government to advise on salary increases, The Telegraph understands.
‘Increase does not come close to what is needed’
According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, teachers’ salaries fell about five percent between 2007 and 2021 for new and less experienced teachers. For more experienced teachers, salaries fell 8 percent in real terms over the same period.
dr. Patrick Roach, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, another union, said, “Talking about a 5 percent pay for the vast majority of teachers isn’t close to what is needed.”
The NEU, the UK’s largest education union, plans to have its members vote on union action in October if they don’t get a pay rise in line with inflation. The NASUWT has said it will also vote its members in the fall if staff do not receive a 12 percent pay increase. The two unions represent the vast majority of staff in schools.
Mr Zahawi has previously warned that a teachers’ strike would be “unforgivable and unfair” in the wake of Covid.
dr. Bousted said Mr Zahawi has had regular Zoom talks with the NEU but has called for the union to join the Ministry of Education for “direct negotiations” on wages.
“Teachers have seen a greater degree of work intensification than any other profession. So if teachers look at workweeks of 55 to 60 hours, and then calculate that against their wages, it’s the combination of those two things. There’s a lot to negotiate.”