Another day, another strike action. This time schools are facing another wave of strikes from the National Educators Union over pay and conditions at the start of July.
Despite a pay deal offered of 5% for 2022-2023, this has been rejected by the union for representing a real term pay cut under inflation of 1.9% and being against the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 6.5% increase. Concerns have been raised as to where the additional money will come from. Increases in salary that come out of an already stretched budget has done little to stem the tide of educators from the profession. Current teacher retention loses 12.8% of the workforce within the first year, with only two thirds (68.7%) of teachers remaining after 5 years, and a little over half (58.7%) making it to a full ten years.
With the head of the NEU, Daniel Kebede, making announcements this month that call for unified action by all four of the national unions for September, it does not look promising for families already struggling with the costs of living crisis.
We hope that an agreement can be reached before large-scale industrial action goes any further.
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