Commenting on today’s strike by
National Education Union members in England and Wales,
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin
Courtney, Joint
General Secretary of the National Education
Union,
said:
"Today, teachers in schools and sixth
form college in England and Wales and support staff in Wales
schools, took strike action in pursuit of a fully-funded, above
inflation pay rise. The government has short-changed them for
over a decade, with significant real-terms cuts to pay and
persistently unfunded rises which schools cannot
afford.
"The legacy is all too clear, with
schools having to cut services to the bone and a recruitment and
retention crisis that is a detriment to children's education
every single day. One day's disruption through strike action is
dwarfed by the long-term damage caused by government policy on
education funding, on workload, and on
pay.
", in her continued refusal
to take on board the concerns of teachers and support staff, is
letting this generation of children down. The Government needs to
invest in education. You can't have decent growth in an economy
if you don't invest in education, if you don't invest in public
services. The Government has got to get to grips with
that.
"Our own research tells us that around
85% of schools in England and Wales were affected by our strike
action today. This is no cause for celebration, but an indication
of the level of anger amongst our members. It is a huge statement
from a determined membership who smashed through the Government's
thresholds that were only ever designed to prevent strike action
happening at all.
"Today, we put the education
secretary on notice. She has until our next strike day for
England, 28 February, to change her stance. NEU members do not
want to go on strike again. They want constructive talks that
deal directly with the long-standing concerns they experience in
their schools and colleges every day. So that they can get back
to doing what they do best, working with pupils in the classroom.
However, be in no doubt that our members will do whatever it
takes to stand up for education, including further strike action,
if still fails to step up with
concrete and meaningful proposals."
Editor’s
Note
The full list of planned strike days
is here: https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/neu-take-strike-action-over-pay
