Teachers threatening to strike over pay have been told by the Welsh Government it does not have the money to meet their demands as it faces “the biggest cuts we have ever experienced”. Education minister Jeremy Miles has written to general secretaries of teaching unions balloting members for strike action, saying he understands their “anger and disappointment” and blaming the UK Government for slashing funds.
As his letter came the Nasuwt teachers' union defiantly announced it will ballot its members in Wales for industrial action over "the failure by the Welsh Government and employers to give teachers a fully-funded pay award of 12%". It is recommending members vote yes to take strike action and action short of strike.
Earlier this week Welsh language teachers' union UCAC announced it will ballot its members for possible strike action later this month while the NEU Cymru and Association of School and College Unions Cymru have warned they are likely to. Teaching unions have described this year’s below-inflation 5% pay award as an insult.
Read more: What the 5% pay rise for schools really means for teachers
But Mr Miles said their bid for a 12% rise would cost more than £100m. Finding that would lead to cuts in education comparable to the loss of 1,600 full-time teaching positions, he warned.
Writing to union general secretaries Mr Miles said their demand for an above-inflation rise was “reasonable” but the cash simply wasn’t there. He recognised the “tremendous work” of teachers in the last few years but warned the Welsh Government’s budget will be worth £4bn less over the three years of the current settlement and £1.5bn lower next year.
"We face the threat of further cuts to our budget and to public services to come. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the chancellor will need to find £60bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by unfunded tax cuts and the costs of extra borrowing. These would be the biggest cuts we have ever experienced – bigger even than during the decade of austerity," the minister said.
He said the unions' wage demand was reasonable. But it was impossible in the current dire financial climate.
“I am in no doubt that public sector workers should be fairly rewarded and expecting pay to rise in line with inflation is perfectly reasonable,” Mr Miles' letter to union leaders added. “However you will know that it is simply not possible for the Welsh Government to fund such a rise without a substantial increase in our own budget to pay for it. A 12% fully-funded pay rise would equate to well over £100m, which could only be found from education budgets with comparable cuts year on year, while a 12% unfunded pay rise could equate to the loss of more than 1,600 full-time teacher positions. It is a disgrace the UK Government has left us in such an impossible position.”
The Nasuwt ballot opens on October 27 and closes on January 9 so any action from its members would not be before next term. The union said Mr Miles' announcement "comes after ministers failed to engage in negotiations with the Nasuwt despite repeated calls to do so". Members in schools and sixth form colleges in Wales, Scotland, and England will all be taking part in the ballot.
Dr Patrick Roach, Nasuwt general secretary, said: “The Welsh Government has failed to recognise the damaging impact of years of real-terms pay cuts on the morale of teachers, which is fuelling the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. The 5% pay award for teachers and head teachers is unacceptable at a time when inflation is running at more than 10% and it will result in even more financial misery for hard-working teachers."
Neil Butler, Nasuwt national official for Wales, added: “We shouldn't be having to ballot in Wales. The Welsh Government has had control over education for the last four years and has had the opportunity to deal with the erosion in teachers' pay."
Gareth Lloyd, senior Wales officer for NEU Cymru, said results from an indicative ballot of members released on October 14 showed strong support for strike and/or action short of strike unless the 5% offer was raised. "We want to avoid strike action but if there isn't movement the union will shortly announce a timetable for a formal ballot. We urge the Welsh Government to respond to the concerns of our members," Mr Lloyd said.
The whole text of the letter from Jeremy Miles to teaching unions:
Dear General Secretaries,
Thank you for your letter about your concerns over teachers’ pay and potential industrial action depending on the conclusion of this year’s pay award.
I would like to start by putting on the record that I understand the anger and disappointment that many public sector workers are feeling. I am in no doubt that public sector workers should be fairly rewarded and expecting pay to rise in line with inflation is perfectly reasonable.
However, you will know that it is simply not possible for the Welsh Government to fund such a rise without a substantial increase in our own budget to pay for it. A 12% fully funded pay rise would equate to well over £100m, which could only be found from education budgets with comparable cuts year on year, while a 12% unfunded pay rise could equate to the loss of more than 1,600 full time teacher positions. It is a disgrace the UK Government has left us in such an impossible position.
The Welsh Government’s budget will be worth £4bn less over the three years of the current settlement – £1.5bn lower next year. We face the threat of further cuts to our budget and to public services to come. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the Chancellor will need to find £60bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by unfunded tax cuts and the costs of extra borrowing. These would be the biggest cuts we have ever experienced – bigger even than during the decade of austerity.
We must make many difficult decisions to meet our current commitments over the coming months. We are not in the position of the UK Government whereby we can borrow large amounts of additional funding to quickly address the very challenging issues that inflation is having on our budgets. We are doing all we can to address the concerns of the teaching profession and I recognise the tremendous work they have done over the last few years.
We remain committed to social partnership and will work through the decisions we need to make, using our social partnership structures, and by bringing together trade unions, employers and government to deliver the best possible outcome within the funding we have available to us.
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