Teachers set to strike AGAIN at start of new school year – how will your child be affected?
MORE school strikes are set for September as members of the NASWUT union today voted in favour of walk-outs.
State school teachers will abandon classrooms across England in the Autumn due to a major dispute over pay and working conditions.
On a turnout of 51.9%, 88.5% of NASWUT members voted in favour of striking.
It comes as Rishi Sunak battles with his cabinet over whether to accept a 6.5% salary hike for teachers, as is being recommended by the independent pay review body.
NASWUT haven’t confirmed which dates in September walk-outs will go ahead.
Dr Patrick Roach, the union’s general secretary, said: “We have today written to the government and to employers confirming the prospect for industrial action in schools the length and breadth of the country from this autumn.
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“Our members’ goodwill has been taken for granted for far too long.
“Excessive workload demands have become so debilitating that we have seen record numbers of teachers and headteachers leaving the profession, or reporting anxiety, work-related stress and self-harm because of the pressures of the job.”
Alongside NASWUT the Department for Education remains locked in dispute with the NEU, Britain’s largest teacher union.
Last week 60,000 of their members walked out over pay.
Left-wing bosses warned the worst was yet to come as all four education unions could coordinate “a general strike” in the autumn.
Incoming NEU leader Daniel Kebede said he could team up with other unions to inflict the most disruptive strike in a decade if ministers rebuff their inflation-busting pay demands.
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At a London rally he said: “If this Government doesn’t deliver there will be a general strike in education, get ready now!”
While the independent pay body has recommended a hike of 6.5%, it is unlikely union bosses will swallow anything less than an inflation-proofing rise.