The outgoing leaders of the largest teaching union in England have said that the government will face pressure to deliver more on teacher pay as the general election approaches and warned that teachers could strike again next year.
Joint general secretaries of the NEU teaching union Kevin Courtney and Dr Mary Bousted warned that the government would be “daft” and “very foolish” to go into a general election with “another pay cut” following a months-long dispute that resulted in national strikes this year.
The general secretaries made the comments in their first exit interview with Tes ahead of the end of their six-year tenure as joint leaders of the NEU.
Asked if teachers would be willing to go on strike next year if events play out in a similar way to how they did this year, Mr Courtney said: “In the right circumstances, they would.”
And Dr Bousted agreed, and added: “If they are treated with contempt again, yes.”
Dr Bousted added that the NEU, alongside other unions, had achieved the “biggest pay award for teachers for 30 years”.
Under the terms of the pay award, announced by the Department for Education last month, teachers and leaders would receive a 6.5 per cent pay rise from September 2023.
The award was more than the DfE had originally proposed in February (3.5 per cent) but was less than the “fully-funded, inflation-plus pay increase” demanded by teaching unions.
NEU members voted to accept the deal and end the current strike action, following the advice of union leaders.
The other three main school staff unions had also launched strike ballots over the pay dispute and had signalled that they intended to coordinate any resulting action.
The Association of School and College Leaders cancelled their ballot when members accepted the pay deal and the NAHT school leaders’ union has said it does not intend to act on its mandate to strike following the pay agreement.
The NASUWT teaching union ran a disaggregated ballot, meaning some schools have the mandate to take industrial action over pay, workload and working time from September.
The union said it intends to issue notice of a programme of continuous action short of strike action commencing in September and dates for strike action in the autumn term will also be considered.
Deal ‘doesn’t end long-term decline of teachers’ pay’
Speaking to Tes, Dr Bousted said the pay rise that has been agreed “doesn’t end the long-term decline in teachers’ pay”.
She added: “If the government’s got any sense, they will look to this moment...and correct teachers pay over two or three years.”
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies published earlier this year estimated that the salaries for experienced and senior teachers had fallen by 13 per cent in real terms since 2010.
And Mr Courtney said: “You look back historically, at general election years and pay rises, you see a pattern.
“I think governments want to make pay rises as well. They will want to try and convince public servants that it’s okay to vote Conservative.
“So the combination of that pressure on them and the realisation that the NEU and other unions could beat the thresholds [for taking industrial action] again, and that starts to add some pressure.”
The DfE has been approached for comment.
