UK Teachers Set to Hold Further Strikes After Rejecting Government’s Pay Offer

By Staff, Agencies

Teachers in England are set to go on with two further days of walkouts over pay and conditions after rejecting an unfair offer from the British government.

Teachers’ trade union announced on Monday that the English teachers have rejected the offer of a one-off payment this year of 1,000 pounds and an average pay rise of 4.5 percent in the next financial year.

The National Education Union [NEU], Britain’s largest education union, said 98% of teachers who voted in the ballot have followed its advice and are going to hold strikes on April 27 and May 2.

Tens of thousands of teachers across the UK have been holding industrial actions throughout this year in demand of a pay rise that matches the skyrocketing inflation.

The teacher’s repetitive strikes have left the classrooms empty and have worried the parents, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.

Not only the teachers, but a majority of the UK industries are grappling with industrial actions, as the prices of commodities and energy bills soar.

Unions say wages, especially in the public sector, have fallen in real terms over the past decade, and a cost-of-living crisis fueled by sharply rising food and energy prices has left many struggling to pay their bills.

Britain’s annual inflation rate was 10.1 percent in January. The Conservative government argues that pay increases would drive inflation even higher.