Consultation on new offer from Welsh Government
The solid strike action taken by NEU members in Wales has forced the Welsh Government to table a new offer. But it still falls well short of what the Union set out to win. So, once again, teachers in Wales should:
VOTE TO REJECT THE INADEQUATE OFFER
REJECT: Accepting the offer means accepting two more years of real terms pay cuts
When the NEU Cymru ‘Valentine’s Day’ strike on 14 February was called off in order to consult with members over the first Welsh Government offer, members rightly rejected the deal and, instead, went ahead with strike action on 2 March. And that action was solidly supported!
Joint General Secretary, Kevin Courtney, told BBC Wales that members “have emphatically informed us that the offer of an additional 1.5% added to teachers’ pay, plus an additional 1.5% lump sum is simply not good enough” and ‘insisted it failed to address the cost of living crisis, inflation, or the “damage” to pay since 2010’.
So what is being offered now? For 2022/23, it’s still that additional 1.5% plus an additional 1.5% “non-consolidated” add-on. It was not good enough then and it’s still not good enough now!
The change to the offer is an additional 5% increase for 2023/24 – making 11.8% over two years. But 11.8% doesn’t even match inflation for one year, let alone two! With RPI inflation still forecast to be around 10% for the rest of 2023, accepting the deal means accepting not just one year but two more years of real term pay cuts. That’s not good enough.
REJECT: There’s no more money from Westminster, only funding from the Welsh reserves
The Welsh Government has said that they can fund the additional pay being offered from their own reserves. Strike action has forced them to do so. But nothing more has been won from Westminster – and relying just on Welsh Government funds is just not sustainable in future.
Instead of expecting its teachers and nurses to accept below-inflation pay, we must demand that the Welsh Labour-led government join with unions in fighting the Tories for the pay and funding we need.
The “no detriment” clause – promising to match any higher pay award that might be won in England – is a hollow promise. In reality, if teachers in Wales settle for this two-year pay cut, it will set a benchmark for the maximum that the Tories will offer in England too.
Accepting an offer without winning any more funding from Westminster lets the Tory Government off the hook. It means throwing away the leverage we have over them through the collective action being taken across both Wales and England. It gives them no reason to ‘pay up’ to boost school funding in Wales – and will make it harder for colleagues in England to force them to ‘pay up’ for their schools too.
REJECT: There’s nothing in the offer for support staff, nothing that really addresses workload
The Welsh Government has said that “negotiations will continue” on workload – but, if action is called off, why should we expect to end up with anything more than the usual vague promises? There is nothing concrete in the offer that will really cut workload. It’s still ‘simply not good enough’.
NEU support staff in Wales beat the anti-union ballot threshold and took strike action alongside teaching colleagues. But there is no offer being made for them. We must stand together, not leave our poorest paid staff without any gains to show from their action.
REJECT: We don’t need to settle for this – we can win more!
Why do we need to settle for such an inadequate offer now? Our strike action has been strong. Picket lines have been growing. The strike on 15/16 March would have been solidly supported, it should have gone ahead.
We can do better than this!
Instead of settling for an inadequate offer, NEU Cymru members need to reject it and maintain our united action with members across England and Wales.
Members in England will need to escalate with further strike action – and members in Wales should do so too.
VOTE TO REJECT THE OFFER!
Socialist Party members on the NEU executive have made a proposal for escalation, which can be seen here
