Vote now to give teachers the pay rise they deserve

VOTING in the union’s ballot of members across England and Wales is now underway, which could result in the rst strikes in education for a generation from January.

Leaders are among 300,000 teachers and support sta being asked if they would be prepared to take strike action if the Government fails to give teachers a fully funded, above-in ation pay rise.

In the summer, the Government announced a ve per cent pay rise, which at a time of soaring in ation amounts to a seven per cent pay cut. On the back of years of below-in ation pay rises, teachers have now had a 20 per cent pay cut since 2010.

Support sta have had a 27 per cent cut over the same period.

Many are being pushed into poverty. ey are being forced to take second jobs to pay the bills, rely on food banks to feed their families and nancial help from friends and family.

Teachers are leaving in droves, deepening the recruitment and retention crisis and leaving leaders struggling to ll posts. Support sta are leaving education for better-paid jobs in the retail, hospitality and or care sectors.

Announcing the formal ballot, NEU joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said: “ e strength of feeling should not be underestimated. Teachers work among the longest hours of any profession, and according to the OECD, those working in England work longer hours than teachers anywhere else in Europe.

“Pay, along with workload, lies at the root of a recruitment and retention crisis which should be of deep concern to the Government, but about which they have been completely ine ective.” ey added that the DfE’s own gures show one in eight teachers leave within

About the ballot

THE union has issued members with a formal postal ballot asking you to vote YES in favour of strike action to win a fully funded, above-infl ation pay rise.

• The envelope is marked YOUR NEU BALLOT PAPER ENCLOSED.

• If your ballot paper doesn’t arrive, email ballotenquiries@ neu.org.uk as soon as possible.

• Please vote as soon as you receive the ballot paper, as postal delivery may be slow due to strikes by CWU.

their rst year, a quarter within three years of qualifying and almost a third are gone within ve years. e DfE routinely misses its own trainee targets.

A preliminary ballot carried out between September and October returned an 86 per cent Yes vote. e NEU’s formal, postal ballot began on 31 October and will run until 13 January.

Sister unions NAHT and NASUWT are also formally balloting members. A survey by NAHT found 64 per cent wanted to be balloted on strike action.

Mary and Kevin said: “ e Government’s refusal to fully fund the meagre pay rise for 2022/23 is the nal insult. We repeat our willingness to meet with Government to nd a serious answer to more than a decade of declining pay.”

• Our sister unions the NASUWT and NAHT are also balloting their members.

• We are urging you to vote YES By law, a formal ballot for action needs to be postal.

• At least 50 per cent of eligible members need to vote, with at least 40 per cent voting in favour of action.

PLEASE USE YOUR VOTE.