NUT teachers vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a campaign of industrial action over the 2.45 per cent pay rise proposed by the government.

General secretary Steve Sinnott said NUT members voted three to one for strike action on April 24th, protesting the below the rate of inflation salary increase.

"To bring the best young graduates into the profession, teachers' salaries need to be competitive with those for graduates in the private sector," he commented.

Mr Sinnott called on the government to reconsider and recognise "the continuing workload pressures on teachers".

"The consequences of real term pay cuts are familiar to us. They were a feature of the 'boom and bust' years before 1997.

"In that period schools suffered from recruitment and retention problems – there were teacher shortages and morale was low," he said.