Most schools in England and Wales close for several days if teachers win the strike vote schools

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The Observer has reported that most state schools across England and Wales will close completely on several days in February and March if the country’s largest education union votes to strike industrial action this week.

In what could mark a dramatic escalation of the chaos gripping the public sector, affecting millions of working parents, the National Education Union (NEU) expects a vote by its members, which ends on Friday, to approve a measure that would lead to the largest shutdown. schools for many years.

The university’s general secretary, Kevin Courtney, said actions taken by its members alone would be enough to close many schools. Other teaching unions including NASUWT and the union of school principals, NAHT, will receive the results of the strike ballot in the next few days. It is understood that unions coordinate strikes and strike dates.

Courtney said he was confident those who voted on the ballot would overwhelmingly support strikes, but he couldn’t be sure yet that the strike threshold would be met. Under legislation introduced by the Conservative government in 2017, union ballots must have a turnout of at least 50% and the measure must have the support of at least 40% of all members, not just those who voted. For example, if the turnout is 50%, this means that an 80% vote is needed to support the strike.

Courtney urged all NEU members who have yet to vote to do so before Friday’s deadline. The result will be announced on January 16th.

“We urge all members to use their democratic right to vote,” Courtney said. “I think we will cross the threshold, but there is a chance we will not. I would urge every member who has a ballot form to return it.”

In the event of the industrial strike vote, Courtney said: “We will call on members in all schools in England and Wales to go on strike – and many will be forced to close.”

He said the union was aware of the need not to alienate parents and believed most would understand the action teachers were taking: “I think parents are starting to understand the day-to-day situation in schools – that their child’s maths teacher may never do that”. They got a qualification in Mathematics, that there is a rapid turnover of teachers all the time, and that there is a lot of disruption.

“We are preparing flyers to go to the parents, and we are making parents to shoot videos. The information will be spread through Facebook. Flyers will be distributed on the school gates. There will be a lot of campaign events.”

The NEU, which has more than 450,000 members, is believed to be planning several days of work from the beginning of February to mid-March, in the first phase. This will include a mixture of national work days, and days when strikes are restricted to regions.

NEU is looking for a pay rise of 12% instead of the 5% the government has offered so far for most teachers. Unions say teachers’ salaries have fallen by about 24% compared to inflation since 2010. In July last year, the government said teachers would benefit from pay increases of between 5% and 8.9% from September 2022, after fully approving recommendations from a teacher review body. Independent schools for this academic year.

The main factor in the dispute is how much of any increase must be met from existing school budgets. The government is currently refusing to provide any additional funding to cover the wage increase, which has pushed thousands of schools across the country into deficit and forced principals to consider firing staff.

It is understood that NEU would be willing to seriously talk about an offer closer to 9% if it would be “fully funded” by the government.

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Courtney insisted there was still time for ministers to “put money on the table” and hold meaningful conversations about wages. If they do, strikes can be suspended while negotiations take place.

In 2016, the National Union of Teachers strike—which was pioneered by NEU—led to an estimated 7,000 of the 22,000 public schools closed or partially closed for the day. The strike was a protest against stressful teachers’ workloads as well as funding pressures that have led some schools to lay off staff despite rising student numbers.

NEU representatives at a joint rally with other unions five weeks ago. Photo: Carl Cort/Getty Images

After a chaotic week on the railways and with nurses planning a new wave of strikes, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced on Friday that all departments had called the unions in their sectors to meetings on January 9 to discuss wages.

However, government sources said that these meetings are only related to next year’s salary bonus, and not disputes over this year’s offers.

Teachers in Scotland are expected to be out this week after the breakdown of recent talks with the government. The Education Institute of Scotland (EIS), the sister union to NEU, NASUWT and SSTA, is set to strike on January 10 and 11 after rejecting an offer that would have seen its lowest paid members receive a 6.85% wage increase.

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