As teachers prepare to strike again next week it has emerged that not all councils will fund the 5% initial pay offer, despite a promise they would. Unions and teachers have warned this will directly affect children’s education with schools having to cut jobs, have larger class sizes and more use of unqualified staff in order to foot the rest of the wage bill.
Hundreds of schools shut when teachers in the National Education Union walked out on February 1 and March 2 and two more strike dates are planned for March 15 and 16. Now fresh controversy over funding is looming with talks to resolve the dispute at a delicate stage.
NEU Cymru members turned down an initial below inflation 5% increase an “insult” and then rejected a revised offer of 1.5% more and a one-off cash payment worth 1.5% as “just not good enough”. The Welsh Government has promised to fund the added 3% but councils are now saying they can't afford the first 5%, despite a pledge from the Welsh Local Government Association that they would.
