Teachers reject Welsh Government pay offer

A teaching union has rejected a pay offer put forward by the Welsh government.

More than two thirds (69%) of NASUWT members, who responded in a consultative survey, voted to turn down the revised offer which was tabled earlier this month.

The union’s general secretary, Dr Patrick Roach, said the response reflects “the depth of anger among teachers”.

In the renewed offer, ministers proposed a 1.5% pay rise on top of the earlier 5%, plus a 1.5% one-off payment.

The NASUWT said its members believe the offer is unfair in the current economic climate.

Pay cut

Dr Roach said: “While we acknowledge that the Welsh government finally brought a new offer to the table after many months of requests, the fact remains that the revised offer represents a further real terms pay cut for teachers.

“The fact that the majority of members have told us they reject this offer reflects both the depth of anger among teachers at the years of cuts to their pay and the significant impact which the cost of living crisis is having on their finances.”

Neil Butler, the NASUWT national official for Wales, said: “The Welsh government must come forward with a further pay offer which addresses seriously the real-terms erosion of teachers’ salaries since 2010 which has happened on their watch.”

National Education Union (NEU) members rejected the offer last week.

The NEU’s joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said members said the offer was “simply not good enough and fails to address either the cost-of-living crisis, spiralling inflation, nor the damage done to pay since 2010”.

The union said it had a mandate to strike in Wales on March 2.