News Briefs

UK teachers strike against below-inflation pay offer

May 8, 2008 3:40 PM

A national strike by British teachers — the first in 21 years — left more than 8,000 schools closed on April 24’s “Fightback Thursday” and affected some 2.5 million pupils. Civil servants also joined the one-day strike, including 20,000 Birmingham city workers venting at pay deals that lag behind the soaring cost of living. More than 20,000 teachers marched in London, with signs reading “Fair Pay for Teachers” and union estimates of the number of workers striking England, Wales and Northern Ireland approached 400,000.

The National Union of Teachers, Europe’s largest teachers union, called the strike after a government commission recommended a pay increase of 2.45 percent for September 2008, followed by increases of 2.3 percent over the next two years. The union, which already had three previous years of raises that didn’t match inflation, wants increases that at least keep up with inflation. With the British retail price index at 3.8 percent, teachers call the government’s offer a pay cut.

“After three years of below-inflation pay increases, the prospect for a further three years of the same is the last straw,” said Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the teachers union. “Year [to] year pay that fails to keep pace with inflation has real consequences for the profession and our schools. It saps morale and causes problems of recruitment, retention and teacher shortages, not to mention real financial difficulty for our members. It is time to call a halt.”

Reuters, April 24

Guardian, April 26

National Union of Teachers press release, April 24, 25