To prepare for its annual convention in Birmingham, the Nasuwt teaching union polled its members and found that 98% were opposed to the government’s proposed two-year freeze on teacher salaries and those in the public sector.
Out of over 10,700 people who responded, 62% favor a day of strike action alongside other education unions to promote salary rises, and 42% support more than one day of strike action in support of the subject. Out of the 10700 people who responded,
25% of those polled said they would support a strike by Nasuwt for more than one day.
Only 15% of those polled stated they would not be open to engaging in any sort of industrial action in an effort to get a raise in compensation.
Eighty percent of teachers say Nasuwt should concentrate on fighting for the same percentage pay increase for all teachers, regardless of their experience, while just 28 percent say the union should prioritize fighting for the £30,000 starting salary for teachers.
Starting salary for teachers in England will climb by more than 16% over the next two years, to reach £30,000 by September 2023, according to the government’s March call for action.
Starting salary should rise by 8.9% this year and 7.1% next year, according to the Department for Education’s report to the School Teacher Review Body (STRB).
Since inflation is expected to continue to rise, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has predicted that the planned raises for more experienced personnel would actually reduce their wages by 5 percent between 2021 and 2023.
According to 33 percent of Nasuwt members, the union should focus on promoting salary raises for more experienced teachers.
A whopping 64% of those polled said they were “very unhappy” about teachers’ salaries, and that they thought the government treated them “unfairly.”
89 percent of instructors responded that they were concerned about their financial status, which is a significant number.
Nearly half of the teachers surveyed by Nasuwt said that their wage was a factor in their decision to quit their position in the last year.
They discovered that 54% of instructors had cut down on food expenditure, and 40% had cut back on critical home products like toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
1 percent claimed they had to utilize a food bank, while over 10% said they had to work two jobs to make ends meet.
Nasuwt decided on Saturday to “mobilise members for national industrial action, up to and including strike action, in the event that any government or administration fails to deliver a programme of restorative pay awards for teachers”.
Nasuwt general secretary Patrick Roach said that “Over a decade of cuts to teachers pay cannot continue to be endured by the profession.
“Teachers are leaving the profession with many more seriously considering it and pay is one of the main reasons.
“We cannot allow the recruitment and retention crisis to continue and worsen, which is damaging children’s education.
“Governments and administrations must urgently secure the future of education by delivering a serious programme of increased pay awards.”
“Conference has delivered a clear message that ministers will be responsible for any disruption caused by their failure to deliver an immediate programme of restorative pay awards for teachers.”
