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Union to ballot headteachers on national strike action over pay for the first time

HEADTEACHERS across England and Wales will soon be consulted on national strike action following years of real-terms cuts to pay and school funding, their union announced today.

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman told delegates at the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton that the difficult move is necessary as his angry members “cannot continue to run their schools — the neglect of pay and funding is eroding the quality of education.”

More than four-fifths — 84 per cent — of respondents to the union’s recent survey said they wanted to be balloted on taking action short of strikes, while 55 per cent demanded a vote on walkouts.

The numbers were even higher in Wales, with 91 per cent of respondents to an NAHT Cymru poll backing the former move, while 64 per cent wanted the latter. 

Mr Whiteman said: “Schools are caught in a vicious spiral. Insufficient pay has contributed to a recruitment and retention crisis and the failure to fund services means heartbreaking cuts.” 

Workers are feeling “demoralised and undervalued as they are unable to provide the level of education and support they know is needed,” he warned. “It is no exaggeration to say that the future of education is on the line.”

National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said that the whole country faces a “moment of social crisis” but stressed that unions are fighting back.

Following massive support for walkouts in a recent consultative ballot, the union is set to launch a formal 10-week strike ballot on October 28. 

Fellow education union NASUWT’s industrial action vote will open 24 hours earlier. 

Mr Courtney told delegates: “The holding down of wages is causing the cost-of-living crisis, but we are taking action – the government better watch out.”

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