Teachers in Wales will be balloted for industrial action if they do not receive a 12% pay award from the Welsh Government. At the Nasuwt Cymru annual conference in Llandudno, an emergency motion calls for a September ballot “if the Welsh Government falls far short of a 12% pay uplift".
The union said after 12 years of pay erosion, teachers are facing the biggest squeeze on their living standards in half a century. The Nasuwt is calling for the award this year to prevent what it warns is an "unprecedented retention crisis".
The motion states: “Whilst the Welsh Government has not sanctioned a pay freeze as in England, pay rises in Wales are still extremely poor and the time has come for teachers to collectively demand the closure of the pay gap that has cut teachers’ pay by 20% over the last 12 years".
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Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown teacher salary levels fell by 4-5% for new and less experienced teachers between 2007 and 2021, while salaries for more experienced teachers fell by 8% in real terms during the same period.
Teachers in Wales had a 1.75% pay increase this year. The 2021-22 award was agreed by the Welsh Government on recommendation from the independent Welsh Pay Review Body last autumn. But the award hasn't been fully funded by the Welsh Government.
Nasuwt general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “Teachers are suffering, not only from the cost of living crisis, which the whole country is grappling with, but 12 years of real terms pay cuts which has left a 20% shortfall in the value of their salaries.
“If the Welsh Government and the pay review body reject a positive programme of restorative pay awards for teachers, then we will be asking our members whether they are prepared to take national industrial action in response.
“Teachers will not simply stand by as their pay continues to be eroded and if a pay rise is not awarded, it will be won by our members in workplaces through industrial action.”
Neil Butler, Nasuwt national officer for Wales, said teachers had "given their all through a pandemic" and are grappling with the cost of living crisis.
"Their pay is nowhere near adequate in the face of the sharpest fall in living standards for decades. We recognise that pay in Wales is marginally better than England. But marginally better is nothing to boast about. It does not address the pay gap, it does not address inflation. The Welsh Government cannot hide behind 'marginally better.'
“Teachers deserve so much better and we will step up our fight for teachers to have the pay, working conditions and respect they deserve.”
Teaching unions have also warned of strikes in England. The School Teachers’ Review Body in England is reported to have told the Department of Education that that its proposed 3% rise for experienced teachers was not enough and recommended 5%. Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said 5% still amounted to a pay cut after inflation.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "“We have received the fourth report from the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) on teachers’ pay and conditions in Wales, and its advice and recommendations are currently being considered. It will be published alongside ministers’ decisions on the recommendations in due course."
The conference in Wales will also hear this weekend how the behaviour of pupils has got worse since the Covid pandemic. Teachers will tell the conference that since returning to classrooms after Covid closures they are seeing a rise in poor pupil attendance and attitude to learning, failure to follow instructions or demonstrate respect for teachers and other school staff.
Dr Roach said: “The disruption to normal routines caused by the pandemic appears to have led to deterioration in the behaviour of some pupils, with members reporting more incidents of pupils being abusive and disrespectful to teachers and other staff." They called on schools and colleges to support teachers where they have suffered abuse or disrespect, saying not all have been doing so.
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