Teachers warn of further strike action just months after accepting pay increase

Teaching unions are warning of fresh strike action at schools just six months after they accepted a pay offer of more than 10%.

Unions representing the majority of teachers in the north said on Wednesday that members are set to be balloted on reinstating industrial action.

It comes just months after current teachers were given a 10.4% pay rise and a 24.3% increase in the starting salary for newly qualified teachers to £30,000 was agreed.

Teachers are now threatening to walk out again as they say current salaries place them at the bottom of the UK profession’s pay league.

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Staff in England received a 5.5% pay increase for 2024/25 in September.

However, the unions say no pay offer to teachers and school leaders in the north has been made for 2024/25.

The UTU, NASUWT and INTO will ballot members on strike action, while the NEU will ask its members if they should hold a formal ballot for industrial action.

A long-running dispute over pay and conditions ended earlier this year as teachers accepted a resolution to their pay dispute.

A formal offer on teachers’ pay for 2021-24 was accepted by Northern Ireland’s five main teaching unions.

It followed numerous days of strike action, which led to the closure of schools.

The pay settlement agreed by the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee (TNC) included a rise in the starting salary for teachers in Northern Ireland to £30,000 - a 24.3% increase from the current starting salary of just over £24,000.

Current teachers also saw their pay increase by more than 10%, plus £1,000 applied to the other teachers’ and leadership pay scales.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the NASUWT, INTO and UTU said they had notified education minister Paul Givan of “their intent to ballot for industrial action in relation to the failure of management side to make a satisfactory pay offer for 2024-25″.

It said the NEU has announced “an indicative ballot of members in relation to the dispute”.

A spokesperson for the unions said: “All four unions are determined to ensure that teachers are not forgotten about and are making it clear to the minister that if he wishes to avoid industrial action that he needs to make a satisfactory offer on pay.

“In addition, all four unions are committed to working together to ensure that existing workload agreements are fully implemented at school level and that the work which has commenced in relation to the workload reviews continues to be progressed with a sense of urgency.”

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT national official, said: “Teachers in Northern Ireland have watched since the summer as their counterparts in the rest of the UK have received significant pay increases for this academic year and are telling us that they are fed up with being left behind.

“This situation has forced teachers into a position where they are left with no choice but to put the minister on notice that they will take industrial action if a significant pay offer is not made forthwith.”

Mark McTaggart from the INTO added: “Teachers across the north are once again the least well paid across these islands. Teachers have a right to receive a salary that truly reflects their value to society.”

Jacquie White of the UTU said: “We call on the minister to address this issue as a matter of priority, restore the pay to fair and equitable levels, and allow us to move forward”.

Pauline Buchanan from the NEU said: “The profession is undervalued, and under resourced and this is leading to many making the difficult choice to either leave or teach elsewhere”.

In a statement, Mr Givan said it was “with disappointment” he was notified of the ballot after he had “secured Executive funding to resolve the long-running industrial dispute on teachers’ pay” earlier this year.

“This agreement ended industrial action by teachers in April, and I had hoped that this would allow us to increase stability and work together to improve the educational experience of our children,” he said.

“Any proposals for a teachers’ pay award must be affordable and this is difficult given the current financial pressures, however, we will continue to work with the TNC joint pay group to seek a resolution.”