Teachers will hold fresh strikes in July if their long-running dispute over pay has not been resolved by mid June, union leaders announced.
The National Education Union (NEU) said Education Secretary Gillian Keegan could avoid further industrial action if she addresses pay and other issues, including recruitment.
Following a meeting of the union’s national executive, joint general secretaries Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said the minister now has the School Teachers’ Review Body’s report on pay.
They said: “She has the power to reject, accept or amend the STRB recommendations. She has the power to fully fund her decision.
“If she makes the right call, she can start to move our schools in a better direction.
“She can fund schools properly, start to address the decline in teacher pay and its consequences for the appalling state of teacher recruitment and retention.
“If she makes the right decisions, she could also avoid further strike action.
“The NEU executive will meet next on June 17.
“We hope that by then she will have discussed the STRB report and her reaction to it with teacher and headteacher unions, and discussed both workload and this year’s pay, which remains unsettled.
“If she hasn’t moved to settle the dispute, then that meeting will decide on further strike action in the week commencing July 3.”
The union is re-balloting its members to seek a new mandate to continue taking industrial action for six months.
