Thousands of teachers in publicly funded schools across Devon will again be taking strike action tomorrow (Thursday) April 27 and Tuesday May 2 over pay.

The offer that was made by Government before Easter failed to deal with how the pay award would be funded, offering just 0.5% of it on a fully-funded basis, said the NEU, who described it as 'paltry'

The NEU balloted its publicly funded school members on the offer and in just one week, it was rejected by an overwhelming 98% of members on a 66% turnout of the vote. This will be their fourth round of action in their dispute with the Government.

The NEU is asking members and the public to engage in lobbying activities to put pressure on the Government to make a fully-funded pay award.

Tomorrow there will be early morning picketing and then NEU members will gather in Crediton (the centre of Mel Stride’s constituency) from 11am and in Barnstaple (the centre of Selaine Saxby’s constituency) from 11am for rallies. Barnstaple attendees will also march to Selaine Saxby’s constituency office to hand in signed postcards. On May 2 there will be early morning pickets followed by leafleting and street stalls in Exeter and Barnstaple. Other Devon MPs will be contacted via a postcard campaign that will be launched at both rallies tomorrow.

The union has also agreed to give dispensation to members to teach any necessary exam classes in years 11 and 13 if they wish to so that public exams are not affected by the action more than necessary.  

Mike Gurney, teacher and NEU rep at Okehampton College and Joint Branch Secretary, said: “It is a travesty that we are still having to take strike action like this. The Government should have come to the negotiating table and resolved this dispute long ago. The fact that the Government has not done so speaks volumes about their true views on the value of staff working in schools, parents and pupils. We continue to ask the public and members to lobby their local MPs so that we can achieve a fully-funded and acceptable pay award and get back to the thing we do best, which is teaching children in the classroom. This action is inevitably going to continue unless the Government gives serious attention to resolving the dispute as a matter of urgency.”

Fiona Westwood, Senior Regional Officer for the NEU, said: “Like NEU members across the country, Devon members want to see a fair pay offer that is fully funded by the Government so that schools don’t have to pick up the tab. It is frankly astonishing that Gillian Keegan claimed the offer made was funded when in fact only 0.5% of it was. This was dishonest and became one of the main drivers that motivated our members to reject the offer st such a high rate and on an excellent voting turnout because they know better than anyone that schools cannot afford to pay this. It is a scandal that over the past 12 years teaching has been eroded from a once-valued and well-paid choice of profession to the situation of decline we see today. Poor teacher pay rates are fundamentally connected to this problem and the Government should not be seeking to defend what has happened. Rather than running the profession down further, they should be looking for helpful ways to restore its proper value. Making a fully funded pay offer is one way they could do this.”