The National Education Union (NEU) has announced the results of both the postal strike reballot of teacher members in England, and the online consultations over the Tory government’s latest pay offer of 6.5%.
Teachers voted ‘yes’ overwhelmingly, 95.36%, in the strike reballot, which began on 15 May. And the reballot turnout again overcame the undemocratic 50% threshold imposed by Tory anti-union laws, which meant that the NEU had a strike mandate to have taken action in the autumn.
Teachers’ determination to fight for pay and funding and their bold eight days of national strike action forced the Tories to increase their pay offer twice over. In the online consultations that ran from 18-28 July, teachers voted 86% and support staff 85% to accept the Tory offer on pay and funding.
Socialist Party members in the union campaigned to reject the 6.5% offer. The weak and divided Tories were under pressure and more could have been won, both on pay and funding. However, the leadership of the union campaigned for acceptance.
We understand why members voted to accept. However, as the increase is still below inflation and not fully funded, after a well-earned rest this summer, NEU members need to be prepared to fight again to defend education and fight on pay for the next year.
We carry below an edited version of the initial response of NEU NEC and Socialist Party member Sheila Caffrey. She argues that a key part of preparing to fight again is building a new left in the union.
“Whether voting accept or reject, I know many union activists will be disappointed after six months of fighting to finish as we have. It’s half what we were demanding. It’s lack of funding is going to mean cuts to jobs and cuts to the services our most vulnerable students need. And of course, every time there’s a round of cuts, it has an impact on workload.
“6.5% for teachers and same paltry offer for support staff for the second year running will not solve the recruitment and retention issues we face. Last year, 40,000 teachers left the profession – the highest number since they started collecting figures; and teachers took 3 million sick days – 60% higher than before the pandemic. An extra £100 a month in pay packets is not going to turn around these figures.
“But we do live to fight another day. This ballot was 25% bigger than the previous ballot. Over 70.000 new members joined because they saw a fighting union with a fighting leadership that was taking on the government.
“We have more active, organised local structures, with education workers enthused with the idea that we can take action; that the public values education and that it is possible to win concessions.
“We could have won more! The government has given us three ‘final’ offers over the last six months, and we’ve doubled from their first suggestion. They blackmailed us before Easter, and we refused to give in, so they offered us more. We have enormous power!
“And we’ve shown that striking works! We have shown if you stand up to the bullies, stating the need for pay and funding to cut across the race to the bottom and the government’s desire to completely decimate our education system, our arguments do resonate – with educators, with families and with the communities where we live and work.
“The teacher reballot had a 95% yes vote to continue to fight, and I’m sure that the support staff ballot will return similar figures. We could have won more. But I understand people are tired. We all desperately needed the summer break, and we are all desperately keen to return to normal – a normal where your work is focussed on the children and young people that we all went into education for.
“But we must show our pupils that it is worth fighting! That there will be an education system for the next generation that is fairly funded; accountable to local communities; that has a curriculum created by educators and that reflects the needs of children and young people, rather than changed on the whims of an out-of-touch government.
“So, although this battle is over – we haven’t lost the war!
“We need to fight for a proper bargaining structure on pay and funding for teachers and support staff every year.
“We must also link it with workload. Our policy is calling for a national negotiated contract on workload. This should include actual limits on hours worked; prevention of support staff doing work far above their pay grade and an instant doubling of preparation time amongst other demands. We need to start building a movement to fight for this.
“We need to work across unions. Joining with militants in unions such as the BMA, who rejected the offer for doctors outright and are continuing to fight. This includes the fight against all the anti-trade union laws, such as the minimum service levels, which are just another attack against us being able to fight. I will be joining the National Shop Stewards Network lobby of the TUC calling for a national demonstration against this new bill and demanding the organisation of a 24-hour general strike if any of the legislation is used against us or any of our union brothers and sisters.
“From the ‘Educators Say No’ group, we should organise a rank-and-file reps and activists conference in the autumn term. Bringing together determined fighters to keep going – fighting for educators, fighting for education and fighting for a strong, democratic union unwilling to backdown until we win. This could be the start of a creation of a genuine broad left in the union, built on the ideas of activism and a determination to win. We must keep the pressure on the leadership of the union.
“So, enjoy your break and then let’s hit the ground running in September by continuing to build activism from below, whilst pushing the leadership to fight from the front!”
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