Teachers and nurses plan to strike in England and Wales next month as unions remain at loggerheads with the government over below-inflation pay deals.
(Bloomberg) — Teachers and nurses plan to strike in England and Wales next month as unions remain at loggerheads with the government over below-inflation pay deals.
The National Education Union said teachers voted 90% in favor of industrial action in England and 92% in Wales, becoming the latest set of workers to join a wave of labor strife sweeping Britain. The turnouts were 53% and 58% respectively. The NEU says its membership numbers around 300,000 teachers and support staff.
The first strike will affect 23,400 schools on Feb. 1, the union said. Though it plans seven days of strikes, it said no school will suffer more than four.
Separately, nurses announced further industrial action on Feb. 6-7 and accused the government of refusing to negotiate a better pay deal.
Nurses were given a pay rise averaging between 4% and 5% for the current fiscal year, while teachers were offered 5% with new starters getting up 8.9%. UK inflation was recorded at 10.7% in November.
The Royal College of Nursing held its first ever nationwide strike last month and is set to hold two more this week. The RCN said there would be walkouts at 73 National Health Service trusts on the February dates, up from 44 trusts during its December action and 55 trusts this month. Next month’s strikes will not take place in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the union said.
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“It is with a heavy heart that nursing staff are striking this week and again in three weeks,” said Pat Cullen, the RCN’s general secretary. “My olive branch to government – asking them to meet me halfway and begin negotiations – is still there. They should grab it.”
The new strike dates add to pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose administration is already grappling with unrest across the NHS, transport system and civil service. A strike by teachers could have particularly severe repercussions in the wider workforce, with parents forced to stay at home.
Ministers have repeatedly argued that they must abide by the decisions of pay review bodies, while unions say these groups aren’t truly independent.
Still, Health Secretary Steve Barclay last Monday signaled flexibility, saying he’s open to backdating the next pay rise for health workers to cover part of the present fiscal year. Some health union bosses have said talks with Barclay have become more positive.
Staff Exodus
A meeting between the NEU and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan last week did not lead to any breakthroughs on pay, however, with union representatives accusing the minister of “downplaying the prospects of movement this year.”
Teaching unions say an erosion of wages in real terms over the past decade has led to a staff exodus.
The next meeting between Keegan and NEU representatives is on Wednesday, General Secretary Mary Bousted said, adding that the strike mandate would give the union “strength” in negotiations.
“They know that we mean business. They know that you are prepared to take action to protect your jobs, to protect your pay and costs, and to protect your ability to remain in the profession,” Bousted said.
The NEU result comes after only 42% of members voted in a ballot of another teachers’ union, NASUWT, meaning that its vote for strike action wasn’t valid. Nevertheless, it did secure a mandate for strikes at more than 130 private schools. The head teachers union, the NAHT, also did not meet the threshold.
Teachers have already been walking out in Scotland and started a fresh round of 16 days of strikes Monday. The Educational Institute of Scotland also announced a further 22 days of strikes.
(Updates with nurses’ decision and detail throughout.)
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