By Becci Y, Manchester NEU Rep
After the outgoing Tory government failed to release the School Teacher Review Body (STRB) report, which recommends the teacher pay award, there has been a widespread welcome for the new Education Secretary’s announcement that the Labour government will honour the recommended pay rise of 5.5% for teachers in England.
The NEU National Executive held a special meeting to discuss their position. Despite a significant minority of the NEC voting to reject the offer and fight for a higher and fully-funded pay rise, the majority of the NEC voted to recommend that members accept the offer. The online snap poll will take place between 21-30 September.
Is the pay rise above inflation?
Inflation has come down since last year and prices are rising at a slower pace. But prices are still rising and are 21.6% higher than in March 2021. We need more money this year to be able to manage the cost of living. We desperately need pay restoration – teacher pay is almost 20% less than it was in 2010 in real terms.
Is it fully funded?
The claim that the pay rise is fully funded is built on sand. Looking deeper into the figures, the award is based on the assumption that schools have £720m headroom in their budgets to cover a portion of the pay rise. However many schools have spent the last year struggling for money, with restructures and redundancies – particularly of support staff.
Seemingly, the figure has been distorted by some Multi-Academy Trusts which are sitting on huge reserves, with no guarantee that this money will be spent on educators’ pay. This doesn’t solve the problem for many schools, which are not part of MATs, and do not have the money to pay for this teacher pay rise without making serious cutbacks.
If we vote reject, what happens next?
Strike action increased the previous pay offer by 3%, and junior doctors who were on strike during the election campaign have won a 22% pay rise over two years, showing that united struggle can win better results.
In the teacher ballot at Easter, 90% voted that they would be willing to take “strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise that constitutes a meaningful step towards a long-term correction in pay, and further funding to provide improved levels of staffing provision in schools and education services”.
That strike action could be across the education unions, with an escalating programme starting early in the autumn term to be most effective. Whilst 5.5% is a small step forward, it’s not enough. We can, and need, to win more!
