Teachers back on strike in North Yorkshire
The National Education Union have warned that strike dates could last until Christmas
Teachers in North Yorkshire from the National Education Union are going back to the picket line today for a fresh wave of strikes.
National Education Union have warned that strike dates could last until Christmas.
Speaking about the upcoming action, Gary McVeigh-Kaye, North Yorkshire Branch Secretary for the NEU, said:
‘The Government’s recent offer was an insult and in no way represented a serious negotiated settlement. Offering our members a 4.3% pay increase, whilst inflation is still over 10%, does not even begin to address the real terms pay cut of 24% most teachers have experienced under 13 years of Tory Government. To add insult to injury, this pay increase was expected to be taken from already stretched school budgets.
The NEU want the Government to engage in serious negotiations, with a serious offer and a serious increase to school funding. Until we reach that stage the NEU will continue to take strike action across the country.
Since we announced the result of our strike ballot in January, we have seen almost 60,000 new members join our union. In North Yorkshire we have held picket lines at schools across the county and the support from parents and the public has been overwhelming.
The teaching profession is in the midst of a recruitment and retention crisis and low pay rises, juxtaposed with high workload is exacerbating this dangerous situation. Add in the factor of the persistent threat of Ofsted inspections and it’s understandable that the teaching profession appears less than desirable for people seeking a career.
Across North Yorkshire, funding cuts to schools has made the recruitment of headteachers incredibly challenging and many primary schools are having to federate, meaning one headteacher can oversee 3 or more schools. This is not a good model to build community and professional working relationships. This is happening because the Tory Government, a government which has 6 Tory MPs across North Yorkshire, have failed to properly fund schools for over a decade.
Our members do not want to be on strike and our union General Secretaries do want to sit down with the Government at the negotiating table.
For the next two strike dates, the NEU has given dispensation for students in Year 11 and Year 13 to receive revision materials to support their journey towards exams. Whilst we are taking this strike action to fight for a fully-funded pay rise for our current members, we are also mindful of those students currently in Years 11 and 13 and know that, very soon, they will be entering the workplace and we want them to enter any job knowing the year on year their pay rise will not be devalued by being way under where inflation sits.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have made a fair and reasonable teacher pay offer to the unions, which recognises teachers' hard work and commitment. Next year, school funding will be at its highest level in history - per pupil, in real terms.
"We know schools are facing increased costs like energy and staffing, and are providing an extra £2 billion in each of the next two years to cover those costs. As a result, school funding is set to rise faster than forecast inflation in both 2023/24 and 2024/25."