TEACHERS are set to strike again as unions are poised to reject a new pay deal after days of crunch talks.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan put forward a new agreement to education chiefs yesterday, but furious unions are expected to throw it out.
Teachers are set to strike again after days of crunch talks
It came as the PCS union announced another all-out strike date on April 28 – with 130,000 members of the civil service and public sector on track to walk out.
The teacher pay agreement includes a new one-off extra cash payment for the current school year – and a 4.3 per cent pay hike for most teachers next year.
New teachers will get a 7.1 per cent hike – which will take their average salary up to £30,000.
But the NEU said yesterday it would urge its members to reject the “insulting” offer, saying it was not fully funded and would mean cuts to budgets.
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretaries of the National Education Union, said: “This is an insulting offer from a Government which simply does not value teachers.
“It does nothing to address the long-term decline in teacher pay and therefore does nothing to solve the problems in teacher recruitment and retention.
“It is now crystal clear that we have an Education Secretary and a Government that is ignoring the crisis in our schools and colleges.
“No child benefits from this level of underfunding.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The Government and the education unions – NAHT, ASCL, NEU and NASUWT – have engaged in intensive discussions over the last 10 days.
“The Government has put forward a fair and reasonable offer, backed with funding for schools. The offer provides an average 4.5% pay rise for next year, puts £1000 into the pockets of teachers as a one-off payment for this year, and commits to reducing workload by five hours each week.
“This is a good deal for teachers that acknowledges their hard work and dedication.”
