Support staff in thousands of schools are set to vote on strike action from today after their union rejected a pay offer for this year.
The GMB union, whose members include teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, caretakers and administrative staff, has said ballots will take place at almost 3,000 schools and local authorities.
The move comes as it was announced that educational psychologists have voted to take industrial action over pay in most areas of England.
The GMB strike vote, which closes on 24 October, follows the union’s rejection of a National Joint Council pay offer in a consultative ballot.
The union said that if its members vote to strike, walkouts at schools and councils across England and Wales could begin on 9 November.
Sharon Wilde, GMB’s national officer, said: “School staff, refuse collectors and council and town hall workers are the hidden glue that keeps our society together.
“They help our children learn, they look after our most vulnerable residents, they clean our streets, and they keep us all safe. They deserve proper value for the work they do.
“After more than a decade of Conservative cuts and a crushing cost-of-living crisis, it’s time they were given the proper pay rise they need.”
School support staff strike threat
In July national employers had submitted a pay offer, with effect from 1 April 2023, of a flat-rate increase of £1,925.
Earlier this year the possibility of a coordinated strike over pay involving the main four headteacher and teacher unions was averted when the government offered a 6.5 per cent pay rise.
However, the GMB action is one of a number that could affect schools, if it goes ahead.
NASUWT teaching union members are set to take part in industrial action from next week that could affect more than four in 10 schools.
Members will carry out action short of strike action from Monday 18 September, with the union instructing eligible members to limit their working time by working to rule.
And the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) has announced that its members have voted to take industrial action in most areas of the country.
It said that members in 86.6 per cent of local authorities met the participation threshold for the ballot and voted in favour of industrial action. The ballot was carried out on a disaggregated council by council basis.
The AEP said that its executive will meet later today to plan action based on the results but that national employers have now sent a revised and improved pay offer, which the union and its members will consider.
Educational psychologists are in a pay dispute with local authorities, represented by the Soulbury Committee, which is administered by the Local Government Association. They had previously been offered a pay rise of £1,925.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
