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eachers in England represented by the NASUWT union will be re-balloted on strike action after 87% of members who voted rejected the Government’s pay offer.
The teaching union, which represents 280,000 serving teachers across the UK, is now the fourth to reject the pay offer from the Department for Education (DfE).
While the union did not reveal the turnout of the consultative ballot, it said 77% of members said they would be willing to vote for strike action.
The Government offered a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022/23) and an average of 4.5% rise for staff next year (2023/24) was also rejected by the National Education Union (NEU), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
At the union’s annual conference in Glasgow on Saturday, Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, urged Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to get back around the table with unions.
He said: “Today the NASUWT is putting the Secretary of State for Education on notice of our intention to ballot our members for industrial action.
“The Government’s pay offer failed to come close to addressing the concerns over pay and working conditions of teachers and this has rightly been rejected by our members.
“Gillian Keegan has said that she is willing to negotiate and to listen to the profession. She must now demonstrate that she means what she says by getting back around the negotiating table to find a resolution to our dispute.
“The onus is now on the Government to come forward with a fully-funded pay offer that will be acceptable to the profession.”
It comes as pupils in England face missing five days of school next term, with the NEU approving further strike action over the pay dispute.
Strikes are scheduled to go ahead on April 27 and May 2 with further dates to take place in early July, the NEU said, however it does not involve the other unions.
Union chiefs have condemned the pay offer further after the UK Government said the bulk of the 4.5% increase should come from existing school budgets.
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