NASUWT has become the fourth teaching union to reject the government’s teacher pay offer, and will re-ballot members over strike action.
The decision follows in the steps of the NEU teaching union, the Association of School and College Leaders and the NAHT school leaders’ union, all of which strongly rejected the offer earlier this week.
NASUWT has said today that it is putting the secretary of state for education “on notice” of its “intention to ballot our members for industrial action”. Tes understands this includes strike action.
NASUWT has said the turnout for the survey was 52.4 per cent, which would meet the legal threshold for a formal ballot over industrial action.
The vast majority - 87 per cent - of members who voted said the union should reject the government’s pay proposals.
And 77 per cent of members said they would be willing to vote for strike action to achieve a fair pay award.
The union has said that, since its member survey closed earlier this week, its national executive has met to confirm that there will be a re-ballot of members in schools and sixth-form colleges in England for industrial action.
The NASUWT’s last strike ballot, on the government’s 2022-23 pay offer, failed to meet the legal turnout threshold, and the union has previously said it would announce plans for a re-balloting of members.
Last week, the Department for Education made all four teaching unions the offer of a £1,000 non-consolidated payment for 2022-23 and an average 4.5 per cent rise for 2023-24.
Of this, 0.5 per cent of the overall 4.5 per cent pay award for next year, plus the £1,000 one-off payment for this year, would have come through new funding.
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said: “Today, the NASUWT is putting the secretary of state for education on notice of our intention to ballot our members for industrial action.
“The government’s pay offer failed to come close to addressing the concerns over pay and working conditions of teachers and this has rightly been rejected by our members.
“Gillian Keegan has said that she is willing to negotiate and to listen to the profession. She must now demonstrate that she means what she says by getting back around the negotiating table to find a resolution to our dispute.
“The onus is now on the government to come forward with a fully-funded pay offer that will be acceptable to the profession.”
A Department of Education spokesperson said: “After costing children almost a week of time in the classroom and with exams fast approaching, it is extremely disappointing that unions are re-balloting for more strike action up until Christmas this year.
“Following a week negotiating in good faith, the government offered teachers a £1,000 payment on top of this year’s pay rise, a commitment to cut workload by five hours per week, and a headline pay increase of 4.5 per cent for next year - above both inflation and average earnings growth.
“The offer was funded, including major new investment of over half a billion pounds, and helps tackle issues teachers are facing like workload. NEU, NAHT, ASCL and NASUWT’s decisions to reject this offer will simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers today.”
