The NEU teaching union faces both sections of its workforce going out on strike after it emerged that NUT staff are considering following ATL colleagues on a walkout over restructuring plans.

The NUT and the ATL came together last September to create the NEU, an education union with close to 500,000 members. The NEU has continued running the NUT and ATL sections as part of the transition process, which will conclude in January 2019.

The move to restructure the workforce and replace existing contracts with new ones has been the source of internal conflict.

Up to 200 NEU ATL employees are set to go on a 24-hour strike on Thursday over changes resulting from a restructuring exercise.

The GMB, which represents most ATL staff, said the planned strike relates to the “highly controversial consultation exercise that would see job losses, increases in workload, changes to contracts, downgrading of posts and cuts in pay”.

But the unhappiness is not confined to the ATL; Tes has learned that staff working in the NUT section have already conducted a consultative ballot about the possibility of a walkout over the restructuring of jobs. A majority voted in favour.

A spokesman for Unite, which represents NUT staff at the NEU, said: “The prospect of an industrial action ballot is live among NUT members in the NEU. Obviously, we will be seeking a negotiated outcome.”

The industrial action could not come at a worse time for the union, as it awaits the long-delayed publication, by education secretary Damian Hinds, of the School Teachers’ Review Body recommendations on teacher pay.

‘Staff are angry’

And the 24-hour strike by the ATL section of the NEU could just be the start of longer-term industrial unrest, after members voted overwhelmingly to take action in protest at changes being introduced from this September.

The GMB claims that despite “numerous attempts” to slow down the consultation exercise and requests for more detailed and timely information, these were not heeded by senior staff.

Jill Stokoe, GMB branch secretary, said: “We have done everything we can to get management to see sense, but they are forging ahead with their plans to downsize the full-time staff of the union at a time when the membership base is growing and the education sector is in crisis.
 
“NEU members need and deserve a fully skilled and well-motivated support service from their union more than ever before. These plans have already impacted on our members’ morale and staff are angry; that is why they have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.”

Almost nine in ten staff (88 per cent) backed the GMB ballot and a similar number backed a strike ballot by Unite, which also represents some ATL members. The ballot allows for discontinuous action, with the next stoppages likely to take place in September if matters are not resolved.

Helen Purcell, GMB regional organiser, said people who work for trade unions do not enter into industrial action lightly.

“Many of the staff have come through the ranks and have a real sense of loyalty to the union and its members so will feel torn about taking action,” she said.
 
“It is truly disappointing that we have to enter into dispute, but I am hopeful that NEU management will further engage in a meaningful manner and an agreement will be reached.”

The NEU declined to comment.