Teachers' strike
Thursday, 24 Apr 2008 10:38
With today's teachers' strike expected to close thousands of schools, the debate about public sector pay continues to rumble on.
In January schools secretary Ed Balls published the recommendations of a 2.45 per cent pay rise by the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) from September 2008 and 2.3 per cent increases in 2009 and 2010.
They received immediate criticism from the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the union which is behind today's planned strike.
It claims the deal amounts to a pay cut when high inflation – at four per cent – is taken into account.
At the heart of the clash is the government's commitment to keeping inflation low, which has prompted angry responses from other public sector workers including police officers.
The NUT argues teachers' standard of living will be reduced, making problems of recruitment and retention worse, as a result.
But hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren's education is affected today as around 8,000 schools are believed to have been affected.
politics.co.uk brings you all the key quotes and comment throughout the strike-affected day.