TEACHERS’ PAY

1 April 2008

Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Europe’s largest teaching union said:

“NUT members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the campaign to stop cuts in the real pay of teachers.

“NUT members have voted 3:1 in favour of industrial action on 24 April 2008.

“The Government is wrong to determine a pay increase for teachers below the rate of inflation. The rate of inflation is presently 4.1% and teachers will receive for 2008 2.45%.

“The consequences of real term pay cuts are familiar to us. They were a feature of the ‘boom and bust’ years before 1997. In that period schools suffered from recruitment and retention problems – there were teacher shortages and morale was low.

“The NUT wants no return to those bad old days.

“To bring the best young graduates into the profession, teachers’ salaries need to be competitive with those for graduates in the private sector. Our children deserve the best.

“Young teachers need to be treated fairly. Paying them at levels which are not competitive with those of other graduate professions and making them unable to take even their first step on the housing ladder will damage recruitment.

“Teachers will wish to play their part in ensuring that young people are encouraged to become members of the best and most important of all the professions.

“I call on the Government to think again and ensure that salaries at least keep pay in line with inflation and that there is a recognition of the continuing workload pressures on teachers”.