British education system facing new wave of strikes as unions reject pay offer


British teachers who walked out on strike three weeks ago in a dispute over pay are gearing up for a fresh wave of strikes beginning later this month. File Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE

April 5 (UPI) -- Britain's schools are facing a wave of strikes after a third teachers' union said Wednesday that its members had rejected the government's latest pay offer.

The National Association of Head Teachers said its 37,000 members had voted overwhelmingly to reject the government's "inadequate and unaffordable" pay offer and was considering balloting the membership over strike action.

More than 90% of the union members said the offer was unaffordable, saying they did not have the headroom in their budget to be able to afford the pay offer for the upcoming academic year which begins in September.

Four out of five members also indicated a willingness to strike.

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"Our members do not recognize the government's calculations on the affordability of the offer, with the vast majority of head teachers and school business leaders saying they could not pay the rise from their existing budgets," said NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman. "This is a very clear stumbling block and one the government must listen to and solve if we hope to bring this dispute to an end."

NAHT's National Executive will now meet to discuss the next steps, including a formal ballot on industrial action.

The government's offer is for a 4.3% raise -- more for new teachers whose starting salary would rise to $37,500 -- plus a $1,250 one-off payment this year. Teachers are also concerned that the offer is not funded and that schools will have to pay for the raise out of their existing budgets.

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On Tuesday, the 450,000-strong National Education Union backed more strikes on top of two days of strikes set for April 27 and May 2, with further walkouts possible in the fall.

Delegates at the union's annual conference in Yorkshire voted for a three-day strike in late June or early July.

"If the Government does not resolve the current pay dispute the NEU will re-ballot members for a renewed mandate for further industrial action in the next academic year," the union said in a news release.

That could see the strikes continue over into the new academic year if members give their backing.

"To parents, we say that we have no wish to disrupt education, indeed our action is aimed at getting the government to invest in the education of this generation of children and the people who teach them," the NEU said.

"We are asking our school reps to plan with headteachers to ensure that year 11 and year 13 students have a full program of education on the upcoming strike days."

Three other unions, the NASUWT, Association of School and College Leaders and the University and College Union are all also balloting their members over industrial action.

Members of the University and College Union voted Monday to renew their union's ballot for industrial action over pay, pensions and working conditions, bringing campus strikes affecting 150 British universities in coming months a step closer.

The government, which says schools could afford to fund most of the pay raise from their budgets, called the further strike action "extremely disappointing" and has threatened to withdraw its pay offer if strikes go ahead.

Unions are arguing that the pay rise be fully funded because taking the money from schools' budgets would likely entail cutbacks to other areas.