NASUWT: Thousands of angry teachers issue stark warning to treasury chief

NASUWT: Thousands of angry teachers issue stark warning to treasury chief

NASUWT: Thousands of angry teachers issue stark warning to treasury chief

Over 35,000 teachers in England and Wales have responded to an opinion survey on pensions issued by the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union.

98 per cent of teachers were deeply angry about the Coalition Government’s proposals to change teachers’ and other public service workers’ pensions. The overwhelming majority were prepared to take strike action should the Coalition Government proceed with its proposals.

However, the sound common-sense of the teaching profession was reflected in members’ endorsement of seeking to pursue resolution through the current TUC-led negotiations with the Coalition Government before balloting for action.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:

“This is a staggeringly high response, which in itself illustrates the intense anger the Coalition’s proposals have generated. “This survey is a clear warning to Coalition ministers.

“On the basis of this, I have written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, lodging a formal dispute over pensions.

“I have warned him that, should the Coalition Government either fail to take seriously the concerns of teachers or fail to use the negotiations with the TUC genuinely and seriously to seek an agreed outcome, then the overwhelming support for industrial action among NASUWT members will be translated into reality with inevitable widespread disruption.

“This is a situation teachers would deeply regret and, from the responses, clearly wish to do everything to seek to avoid.

“Teachers also recognise that parents and the public are likely to be more supportive if it is evident that strikes have been called as a last resort. “Teachers have also welcomed the fact that the Union has immediately responded with a High Court legal challenge to the change the Government has already made to the indexing of pensions, which will reduce their value.”

ENDS

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Notes to editors

1. The NASUWT was the first union to commit to defending teachers’ and other public service workers’ pensions by industrial action at its Conference in 2010. This commitment was reaffirmed at this year’s Conference.

2. Attached is a copy of the resolution passed unanimously at the NASUWT’s 2011 Conference. It states: “.unless the Coalition Government ceases its attack on public sector pensions, joint union industrial action across the UK is inevitable.”

3. Attached is a copy of the letter to the Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, notifying him of the survey results and lodging a collective dispute, and a similar letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove.

4. The NASUWT also lodged on 4 May 2011 a high court legal challenge against the one change the Coalition has already made by changing the indexing of pensions from Retail Price Index to Consumer Price Index, which will reduce the value of the average teachers’ pension of about £10,000 by £50,000 over twenty years.