More than 100,000 teachers across Wales and England walked out in strike action on Wednesday calling for better pay and working conditions. In what was dubbed "the biggest day of industrial action in more than a decade" teachers and school staff joined civil servants, the DVLA, bus drivers, train drivers, and university staff in a mass walkout.
Many schools in Wales have been forced to close with parents having to take the day off work to care for their children or find alternative childcare arrangements after last-minute talks with the Welsh Government and a one-off payment offer to teachers last week failed to stop the walkout. Unions have branded a recent 5% pay offer to teachers as "an insult" and say years of underfunding have prompted a recruitment and retainment crisis that is damaging children's education.
While striking staff have seen support from pupils, parents, and members of the public in towns and cities across Wales others have criticised the walkout saying teachers are paid well and shouldn't feel the need to strike. According to The Telegraph teachers in England are among the best paid for the fewest contracted hours in Europe.
