The Welsh government’s offer of a one-off payment for teachers to prevent strike action next week has been branded “inadequate” by the Wales secretary of the NEU Cymru.
The value of the one-off payment is confidential but Wales secretary David Evans says “it does not even start to meet our expectations” and that - while the union will “continue to negotiate up to the eleventh hour” - “at this point...the strike is going to go ahead”.
Mr Evans also told Tes that a meeting yesterday with the Welsh minister for education, Jeremy Miles, had failed to find a resolution to the dispute and that no further meetings are planned between now and the first day of strike action in Wales, which is scheduled to take place next week, on Wednesday 1 February.
Strikes are also planned in Wales on Tuesday 14 February, Wednesday 15 March and Thursday 16 March.
NEU teaching union members in England will also walk out over pay next week, with the first day of strike action also scheduled for 1 February.
The NEU is demanding a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise for teachers and support staff.
Mr Evans said: “We have no meetings scheduled between now and 1 February. That could change; we hope it does change. We would be prepared to meet Welsh government officials and indeed the Welsh minister any time, any place and anywhere.”
However, asked if he was optimistic a resolution could be found in time to avert the first day of industrial action, Mr Evans said: “One can always hope and pray that it can be averted. Our members don’t want to be on strike but they do want to make sure they secure what is in their best interest and that they are rewarded appropriately.
“So at this point, I would say the strike is going to go ahead next week but the ball is firmly in the minister’s court. He holds the key to resolving this and we would ask him to use it.”
NEU Cymru estimates that around 14,000 teachers will be on strike in Wales next week.
It also says that around 1,500 establishments will be impacted - with school support staff also striking.
School leaders in Wales also voted for strike action but to date, NAHT Cymru has only announced its intention to take action short of strike. That action will also begin from Wednesday 1 February.
It will mean that, among other things, headteachers abstain from facilitating or arranging cover for those taking part in any industrial action, and also refuse to provide information regarding staff participation in industrial action.
NAHT Cymru says it is “prepared to move to strike action” if the government fails to resolve the dispute.
Speaking earlier this week, Mr Miles said he was “absolutely committed” to finding a resolution to the teacher pay dispute and that he was “happy to meet as many times as it takes to get a resolution”.
He said that teacher workload - as well as pay - had been raised during the meetings between the government, local authorities and unions. The government had committed to “looking at those again” and to seeing “what more we can do”.
Mr Evans said that NEU Cymru wanted a commitment from the government to activate the mechanism that would allow the independent pay review body in Wales to look again at its recommendations.
In July it was revealed that the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) had recommended that teachers “on all pay scales” in Wales should receive a 5 per cent rise in September, followed by a 3.5 per cent rise next year.
But Mr Evans said the bulk of the evidence for the review was gathered in January and February 2022 “before the war in Ukraine and before the cost-of-living crisis started to spiral”.
Mr Evans said: “That is why we are saying the evidence is out of date and that is why we are pressing the minister to trigger a review.”
In England, members of the NEU are also set to begin strike action from 1 February.
However, the NAHT ballot on industrial action in England failed to meet the legal turnout threshold.
Yesterday, NAHT general secretary, Paul Whiteman, committed to balloting NAHT members in England again on industrial action - he said that the original ballot was “materially compromised” by the Royal Mail strikes.
In Wales, 95 per cent of NAHT Cymru members voted for action short of strike and 75 per cent voted to strike, based on a turnout of 55 per cent.
In England, 87 per cent of ballots recorded a “yes”’ vote for action short of a strike and 64 per cent voted “yes” to a strike.
But the turnout of 42 per cent fell short of the 50 per cent figure needed under government rules.
In Scotland, teaching unions have been striking over pay since the end of November; next month teachers in Northern Ireland will take part in a half-day strike over pay.
