Members in the NASUWT union have voted to accept the government’s 6.5 per cent teacher pay deal – but planned industrial action from September will still go ahead.
NASUWT members had already voted in favour of industrial action over pay, workload and working time.
The union said 77.6 per cent of over 18,000 members who responded to a survey on the government’s pay offer were willing to accept the deal.
But just 18.4 per cent said the government’s workload and working hours commitments were sufficient.
Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said the union would be taking action “up to and including industrial action” to tackle excessive workload.
NASUWT has written to education secretary Gillian Keegan calling for “more to address our members’ demands for pay restoration and immediate action to tackle excessive workload and long working hours”.
Roach added: “Teachers and headteachers are already working excessive hours in breach of the statutory Working Time Regulations. This simply cannot be allowed to continue. A statutory working time limit would help keep more teachers and headteachers in the job.
“In schools across the country, the NASUWT will be taking action, up to and including industrial action, to tackle excessive workload and working hours and to protect the health, safety and welfare of our members at work.”
The industrial action is expected to include action short of strikes during the autumn, as previously announced. Strike action hasn’t been ruled out, but no decision has yet been taken.
The pay deal outcome comes follows National Education Union (NEU) and NAHT school leaders’ union members voting the same way today.
Leaders’ union ASCL ended its own strike ballot after its own members voted to back the deal earlier this month.
I think it’s time unions thought of the damage done to their pupils. Some are being held back by union sanctions short of strike already. The number of 4 day weeks last year due to Bank Holidays and teacher training is disruptive to pupils needing routine and continuity in their school lives.
The focus seems to be on Teachers, but without pupils they wouldn’t have jobs.
I agree there is a lot of administration which is there to tick the right boxes . It would be more beneficial to teachers and pupils if this time was dedicated to preparation and teaching young people.
This,however, would erode the number of empires built to promote and support those who have an idea that requires dissemination and resources to give these people credence and a job. Not always , but often about empire building and self promotion. It is a whole industry.
Time to put children at the heart of this vocational and caring profession while ensuring teacher love their work and get job satisfaction.
Surely not impossible for someone choosing teaching as a profession.
Even with the 6.5% rise, it is still an unattractive profession to go into. Schools are struggling with years of underfunding and the restoration of 2010 levels of funding seem to ignore the price increases of everything over the last 13 years. This means many schools will still be cutting jobs, resources, and state school children will still get a poor deal from a Conservative government.