More teachers could strike in Wales as another teaching union is set to ballot its members for industrial action. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) which includes trust leaders, headteachers, principals from primary and secondary schools and colleges will ballot its 22,000 members for action after members indicated they wanted a vote.
The union, which has around 900 members in Wales, conducted a consultative ballot of its members in November and December asking if they wanted to hold a ballot for industrial action. It comes as Wales' other main teaching unions prepare to close their ballots with fears strikes could be announced within weeks, which could see widespread school closures.
The NASUWT, NAHT, NEU and UCAC unions have all been holding formal ballots of their members who are in a dispute over pay and conditions. Teachers rejected the Welsh Government's offer of a 5% increase in November and have called for an increase closer to the rate of inflation, currently over 10%. They say low pay has led to a retention crisis and increased pressure on schools.
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The ASCL has now announced that a consultative ballot on industrial action conducted by the union has shown a majority in favour of proceeding to a formal ballot. In the consultative ballot 61% of eligible members voted in total with 64% of these in favour of moving to a formal ballot on strike action and 79% in favour of moving to a formal ballot on action short of a strike.
The ASCL UK Executive, which is made up of senior elected members, has held an initial meeting to discuss the results and will meet again in due course to decide on the next steps. The other teaching unions are due to close their ballots this week and strike action could begin as soon as the end of January, if members vote to strike.
If teachers vote to strike than we can expect school closures across the country. In Wales, industrial action is treated the same as any other possible disruption to a school like severe weather or snow, so individual schools alongside local authorities plan and implement measures that minimise the impact on pupils and decide how to make up for pupils’ education that has been lost.
Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, said: “The results of this ballot show the strength of feeling which exists among school leaders over the desperately difficult situation they are facing in recruiting and retaining staff, and operating their schools without the adequate funding to do so.
“This has been caused by the erosion of school leader and teacher pay which has fallen by a fifth in real terms since 2010, and a decade of underfunding of education. The final straw was this year’s pay award which was significantly below inflation.
“We urge government – in Westminster and in Wales – to avoid an escalation of this dispute, and do the right thing by schools and children by addressing recruitment, retention and funding as a matter of urgency."
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