Dan Warrington, Sheila Caffrey, Louise Cuffaro NEU Executive members, personal capacity
On Thursday 24 September, the National Executive of the National Education Union (NEU) voted to pause the teachers’ strike ballot which was due to start on 3 October.
Socialist Party members and our allies on the Executive voted against this position.
A week before the Exec meeting, general secretary Daniel Kebede announced that the NEU had won an extra £500 million to ensure the 2026-27 teacher pay award will now be fully funded. This was achieved through the threat of strike action.
But it quickly became clear that the ‘full funding’ was not as straightforward as it at first seemed. And the union’s demands for more pay than the 6.5% over two years, and for sufficient funding to stave off redundancies, were not met.
We quickly put out a leaflet and statement explaining this and arguing that the ballot should go ahead (see ‘Teacher pay and school funding – the fight is not over!’ at socialistparty.org.uk).
However, at national meetings, in the union’s communications, and in the national press, Daniel Kebede and those around him created the impression that there was now no need to ballot to strike.
At the 24 September Exec meeting, Socialist Party members proposed that the strike ballot should go ahead, but with a delay to the start date, in order to rebuild the campaign. Our amendment is below.
The ‘NEU Left’ ruling group voted against our proposal. Some in the NEU Left, particularly members of the SWP, proposed a 4-day snap poll of members, asking them if they wanted to pause the ballot or start it on 3 October; requiring a high turnout, in the region of 60%, in order to move to a ballot. This proposal was narrowly amended out. Then the whole of NEU Left voted to pause.
We did not agree with this decision. But the leadership says “The campaign is not over. The NEU will continue fighting for increased investment in education. We will also campaign to ensure that the £3.3 billion Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) savings remain in education and are not clawed back by the Treasury. The union reserves the right to reopen the ballot if circumstances change.”
We say we need to ensure all schools have adequate funding to cover the pay deal, prevent closures and redundancies, and provide the education children deserve. The government is clearly on the ropes – let’s keep the pressure on to win more!
That must include putting the pressure on the TUC (Trades Union Congress) to implement the PCS motion to TUC Congress, to name the date this autumn for a national demo against austerity – which our union spoke in favour of and we all voted for at the TUC Congress.
Let’s ‘un-pause’ following the 28 October Budget if we don’t have:
- Funding to increase support for pupils, halt all cuts and redundancies, and decrease workload
- All the £3.3 billion savings from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme put back into schools An agreement for a 10% pay deal as a step towards pay restoration for teachers and support staff
- We want to work with anyone in the union who wants a serious fighting strategy, especially in preparation for the Executive elections next year.
- And if you want to campaign with us – join the Socialist Party!
The proposal Socialist Party members and our allies put to the Exec:
The announcement of the government over funding the pay rise has come about as the result of the preparedness of the NEU to ballot, justifying the decision of the July executive.
However, there are serious questions about the funding announced by government earlier in September, including that:
- Schools had already budgeted for the money gained by LGPS revaluations
- The available funds vary greatly area to area, and school to school
- There is still the risk of further cuts to education spending
- Money gained from reduction in TPS employer contributions should be redirected into general education funding
This executive therefore resolves that the dispute is not over. The executive resolves to postpone the start of the ballot in order to allow time to rebuild the campaign, and launch the ballot after the date of the next executive meeting on 22 October.
