Pay talks

[Indigoshift]

Apparently talks are happening this weekend.

In a letter to the NEU sent on March 3, seen by Schools Week, Keegan insisted the offer of talks was “entirely in line” with that made to health unions, which have agreed to pause ambulance strikes.

What rise would you be happy with?

What would it be if it was inline with the nhs?

I'd be happy with something inline with the Scottish and Welsh deals. Mainly because I don't think there's a cat in hell's chance that we'd get more.

Well that is true.

They're going to try to give us a lump sum instead of a pay rise which means that next year we'll just be fucked again as they'll say 'oh, inflation is now 4% so you can have a 3% pay rise' but we won't have had a pay rise (as the lump sum is a one-off) that even remotely takes into account how high inflation is running this year so in real terms our pay will be even lower.

Ugh that is ridiculous.

Think nurses one is shocking too.

The NHS pay deal, as far as I can tell, is not very good.

It's 6% this year, but only 2% of that is consolidated. Then 5% next year. I'm pretty sure that actually means over two years, it's actually worse than the current (average) offer to teachers of 5% and 3% because our 5% is consolidated. But someone is welcome to correct me if I am wrong!

For me, any pay deal must be fully funded and that funding must be ringfenced for pay- that's a red line in the sand, because otherwise some schools won't be able to afford it, or will potentially try to use the funding to fill other budget gaps.

I'd be happy with something in line with the Scottish deal- but the Welsh deal again isn't that good long term I don't think?

I would be happy with a smaller funded pay rise if there were serious promises made about workload- i.e. not "we'll try and do something for teacher wellbeing" but something tangible like a reduction in directed time, or 20% PPA etc.

20 percent PPA would be heaven.

Whatever is offered must be fully funded that is the bottom line for me!

Workload addressing as a priority.
Ofsted overhaul
Commitment to funding for SEND (including school places)
And a match to the Scottish pay deal.

I don't think we'll be offered a fair deal. I would hope that non NEU unions will offer some support if the strikes continue.

Wonder if they did actually hold intensive talks over the weekend.

The problem with extra PPA is the need for extra staff to cover. Where are they going to find them? It would be amazing and make a huge difference to our workloads but I just don't see how it will happen. And that's even assuming there is.money made available to.cocer the extra PPA.

Still nothing.

Why do we get paid less than Wales and Scotland?

There's unlikely to be any announcement before the end of the 2 week talk period. It was never likely the Tories would go in to talks and meet all the NEU demands.

20% PPA, whilst it would be a significant QoL improvement would probably cost more to implement than the proposed pay rises- because it would involve employing extra staff and all the tax and pension commitments that come with that. And of course it's hard to find staff (particularly part time right now).

Large-ish secondary departments would have to employ another member of staff to cover the additional lessons.

TBF, Scottish teachers went on strike earlier and walked out for more days than teachers in England. And, I believe, the EIS in Scotland has a bigger proportion of Scottish teacher members than the NEU in England.

An extra £700 per month would cover my utilities right now. I am not dabbling in %. In real terms I need this to live.

Pay update from NEU tomorrow at 6.