Teachers in Wales have been offered a one-off payment in a bid to avert planned strikes in the coming weeks. A number of teaching unions met with education minister Jeremy Miles on Thursday where a one-off cash payment was discussed.
Headteachers, support staff and other school workers in Wales will strike across four days on February 1, February 14, March 15 and March 16 in an escalation in their dispute with Welsh Government over pay and conditions. Teaching unions have been campaigning for months for a pay increase close to inflation, which is currently over 10% and rejected the Welsh Government's offer of a 5% increase in November, calling it an "insult."
Unions say consistent underfunding of schools have led to a recruitment and retention issue and increased pressure on teachers and staff. The strikes, some of which are also taking place in England, are likely to cause widespread school closures and childcare issues for parents with local authorities and headteachers having the final decision on whether there are enough staff to keep schools open.
Read more: How much teachers get paid in Wales: The full salary scale from £28,866
Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said Thursday's talks were "productive" although neither the union nor Welsh Government confirmed how much staff might receive if they are given a one-off lump sum. "There was a discussion about a potential one-off payment for teachers and leaders and a desire by all sides to make progress on some of the other concerns from our members on funding, workload and recruitment and retention," Ms Doel said.
“We remain committed to further talks with the Welsh government and local authorities to resolve this dispute as quickly as possible and we hope for more meetings in the coming days. However, the discussions today are not enough to pause our industrial action."
Welsh education minister Jeremy Miles confirmed he had met with unions on Thursday and that a one-off payment above the 2022/23 pay award had been discussed along with other issues.
Today I have met with representatives from teaching and headteacher unions, alongside the WLGA, to discuss the strike ballot results," he said. "It was a constructive meeting and we have agreed that we will talk again ahead of any planned strikes. I want to assure the education workforce that I am listening to your concerns and remain committed to working with unions and local authorities to seek a resolution. As a government we believe that disputes should be resolved by negotiation.
“During the meeting we discussed a one-off cash payment over and above the 2022/23 pay award and a series of non-pay issues, including a commitment to address workload issues. Today’s meeting was very much the start of discussions and further talks are planned.”
Earlier this week the NEU Cymru union announced the result of its strike ballot which saw 92.28% of teacher members vote to strike on a turnout of 58.1%, above the threshold needed to legally strike. A ballot of support staff in Wales saw the majority of members vote yes 88.26% on a turnout of 51.3%.
Members of NAHT which represents head teachers and school leaders also saw its members in Wales vote to strike with 95% voting ‘Yes’ to action short of strike and 75% voting ‘Yes’ to strike with a turnout of 55% of the union’s membership. The union announced on Thursday that it will begin industrial action short of strike from Wednesday February 1 under which conditions staff will:
- Restrict availability to receive or respond to calls and emails before 9am or after 3pm
- Abstain from attending meetings after 5pm
- Refuse to facilitate unsolicited school visits or take part in non-statutory consultations, surveys, projects, meetings, government, local authority or Consortia webinars or data requests
- Abstain from involvement in any staff appraisal or redundancy process
- Abstain from facilitating or arranging cover for those taking part in any industrial action
- Refuse to provide information regarding staff participation in industrial action
- Refuse to engage with Estyn, which inspects education and training providers in Wales, beyond statutory requirements
The ASCL, another teaching union, is also balloting its members for industrial action and the UCAC this week voted 88% in favour of striking but missed the 50% threshold.
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