Teachers in England to hold one-day strike

Guardian – Members of the National Union of Teachers have voted to hold a one-day strike next month, in protest at cuts to school budgets as well as workload concerns.
The ballot, the result of a motion aiming to protect pay and working conditions passed at the NUT’s annual conference in Easter, will see the union taking industrial action on 5 July.
The strike is most likely to affect primary schools in England with high concentrations of NUT members. In previous strikes, Manchester, Leeds, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire have been the worst-hit areas.
Support for the strike was high among those who voted, at about 92% supporting the move. But only about 50,000 votes were returned by the 210,000 members balloted, a turnout of just 24%.
“At the absolute minimum, schools urgently need extra funding to meet the additional costs government has put on them through increased national insurance and pension payments,” said Kevin Courtney, the NUT’s acting general secretary. “This amounts to a 5% charge on the teachers’ pay bill for schools. George Osborne is freezing the cash per pupil he gives to schools, whilst increasing what he takes from them. For every 20 teachers employed, a school has to find an extra teacher salary to give to the Treasury.”
But the Department for Education said the union’s reasons for holding a strike were unclear. It said: “It is disappointing the NUT has chosen to take unnecessary and damaging strike action, which less than a quarter of its members voted for. It is even more disappointing when we have offered and committed to formal talks between ministers and the unions to address their concerns about pay.
“Industrial action causes disruption to children’s education and parents who have to take time out of work to arrange childcare. We urge the NUT not to proceed with this strike and to resolve pay disputes at the negotiating table rather than playing politics with children’s futures.”
The ballot figures suggest appetite for industrial action may be waning among teachers. In 2011, when the dispute began, the NUT’s ballot had a 40% turnout, with 92% of those voting in favour of striking.
Courtney said the union did not take the decision to strike lightly, adding: “There is already a teacher recruitment and retention crisis in our schools. Without significant change to the pay and working condition of teachers, this will simply deepen. We know that many parents share our concerns.”
Britain’s other major teaching union, NASUWT, is not taking part in the action.