A Question of Honour
The NUT's Campaign for a Pay Review
The NUT is campaigning for teachers to be paid properly and for a pay award which, at least, restores in full the value of teachers' earnings. There must be no more below-inflation pay awards for teachers.
In November 2007, the School Teachers' Review Body is due to publish its next report on teachers' pay. The NUT stands ready to call on members to take action if the STRB fails to make adequate recommendations or if the Government's response fails to restore the pay of teachers.
Teachers have already suffered pay cuts in real terms. During 2006 and 2007, inflation has been at its highest level for many years. The 2.5 per cent pay increases in September 2006 and September 2007 were below inflation. This has already cost teachers hundreds of pounds. The Government's proposed 2 per cent pay limit for 2008 to 2011 would cause further pay cuts in real terms.
Tell us how your living costs and living standards are being affected by below inflation pay rises: click here to go straight to the form. Read other teachers' comments below.
Contribute to the debate and help the
Please note that the comments selected for publishing will appear anonymously. Information gathered in your details will be used for reference purposes only by the NUT.
The union will only publish a selection of comments supplied.
------------
PAY CAMPAIGN RESPONSES: (updated 28 April 2008) page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
The strike ballot is a confirmation that teachers are tired - tired of excessive workload, overcrowded classes, punitive performance management, jumping through hoops for performance pay. I think the scandal of TLRs was the last straw for many. The fight back starts on 24 April. We will have many new activists coming into the union for the first time. They will revolutionise the union. Derek, West Sussex |
| In the past two years I have been able to afford a mortgage but before this time I couldn't even afford to think about the idea. I am still paying off debts from university and currently lose just over four hundred pounds per month. With current pay cuts and a huge rise in everything this year and last how do the government expect teachers to carry on working? I would love to strike however I am nine months pregnant and at the end of my third trimester waiting for the day. This means that I am unable to strike but would like to know what happens from the strikes! Deborah, Walsall |
| Just to add ammunition to your argument, my wife is a teacher and there was an unannounced change in national insurance contributions that came into effect with the budget which is a straight £500 pay cut for anyone earning £40000 or more! A cut of up to more than one percent! I just haven’t heard it mentioned… David, Gloucestershire |
| The biggest problem may be due to lack of respect, exacerbated by this government’s lax approach to the disciplining of children, so placing teachers in a highly vulnerable position. There appears to be no crime to which these young people are answerable, therefore, considering themselves untouchable. In conclusion, I know only too well the damage of which they are capable, so in my opinion, and until proper discipline is restored to the classroom, teachers don’t warrant a pay increase, they deserve extensive danger money. Gladys, Lancashire |
| As a single person, even with no children or wife to support, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain a decent standard of living. At my present job the head has stated that any strike action would be at the ‘detriment of the students’ education’. Despite that, I feel it is important that teachers stand together on this issue. Anon, Northants |
| Yes, it’s a poor pay deal. I feel more worried about Steve’s wish to do away with faith schools. In my experience it is the fact that such schools have a greater proportion of married, two-parent families which contributes to their success. It is not visiting speakers, prayers, or brain washing. It is just the backgrounds of these pupils which lead to their success. Please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Robert, North Yorkshire |
| When Labour came to power in 1997, most teachers expected a better deal, in both pay and conditions. I looked on the official government web site for a view of teacher’s pay since 1997. The highest award I could find was for 1998, with a 3.8% rise – however, this was staggered, with 2.00% in April and 1.8% in December. Gordon Brown now points to the threat of “economic slowdown”, “recession” to announce that only by keeping a cap on public pay can we hope to get through the difficult economic times ahead. But looking back at the issue of pay since Labour came to power in 1997, it is clear that Labour has little understanding or regard for the jobs that teachers do. Gordon Brown offers 2.45% when recession threatens, and approximately 3.5% in times of economic growth and prosperity. Massive difference! Why has it taken the NUT so long to make a stand on pay? Ian |
| Like many other contributors I love my job and would not have stayed in it for almost 26 years otherwise. But there are an increasing number of irritations in teaching these days, pay being the least. I like many others stand to lose money in December due to the loss of my management allowance, and having reached UPS3 there is now almost no promotional route ahead for me, after the removal of UPS4 and 5. The interminable round of observations take their toll as do the increasing demands for paperwork – after 26 years it is an insult to be asked to submit a weekly list of what homework I have set my classes just because SOME teachers aren’t setting any. The constant demand for levels, targets, predicted levels for three years hence (ridiculous – anyone got a crystal ball?), paperwork to be submitted if I want to take my class into an ICT room, interminable requests for work for pupils in the isolation room because they can’t cope in class but because of ‘inclusion’ they have to be there to spoil everyone else’s education, forms to be filled in if you want to take a pupil to the end of the road and back – I could go on – NONE of these tasks are ‘teaching’. Everything has to be measured and evidence given – teachers’ professional judgements are no longer adequate and it is that lack of trust which really annoys me. Maybe we shouldn’t expect to be paid as professional people – we certainly aren’t treated as such! My school is under threat of closure as a result of a particularly short sighted BSF reorganisation strategy in my borough, which is yet another cause of concern! The pay is an issue as it does not reflect the extreme amount of work carried out by all teachers both in and out of the classroom and I have voted yes in the ballot but more because I’m really p***ed off with my job these days, and the pay cut we are being expected to accept is just one more insult piled on top of a whole load of others. Carole, Halton |
| I had always wanted to be a teacher and after my four years training, during which I accumulated £11,000 worth of debt I made it. I have only now, some nine years on, just finished paying off my student loans. Added to this I have decided enough is enough. It breaks my heart to say this but I have simply had enough of 50-60 hour weeks, poor pay and little recognition for the work we do and at the end of this year I am leaving the profession. I will strike for future teachers if that is the Union’s decision – they deserve more but I’ve had enough. Karen |
| We cannot strike on under 1/3 of the member’s say so. It will make us look ridiculous. If there were a real appetite for strike action, more would have voted – we cannot call members out riding a wave of members’ indifference. The issue of pay is important – but if we want the public behind us, we should be seen to be acting on its behalf – SATs, workload, stress, the GTC, hours. At a time like this the public will see us as greedy and stupid. There is no hope of a better deal under the Tories, so why are we desperate to be seen confronting a Labour Government. This strike call is wrong, will be divisive, unsuccessful and do nothing to improve the image of teaching as a profession. Call under 30% of the membership a popular victory for action – Mugabe would be proud of that sort of take on democracy. Andrew, West Sussex |
| I qualified in 2005 with the maximum award in student loans due to my family’s financial position. Like others, my childhood dream was to teach…I too am looking into other careers. I work very long hours, am again on a temporary contract due to the middle school reshuffle. I have £18,000 in student loans and have been borrowing or living to minimum costs to survive. My friends have much better salaries, less hours and houses. I left London after going there to train thinking I would be better off. I find it insulting when we are subjected to insults over children’s performances and how we are paid enough. Why doesn’t someone step in our shoes for a change?! Sherry, Suffolk |
| I do not support strike action though I do agree that teachers are underpaid for the hours they work. I think the NUT should be taking action on paperwork and new initiatives as if all the ridiculous target setting/action plans/quality marks/travel plans etc. etc. were taken away the job would return to the wonderful job it used to be – educating children. We need to work to rule and refuse to comply with non-statutory initiatives. In Croydon, reception and nursery staff spend hours everyday photographing, annotating, recording individual children to produce weighty ring binders of evidence for EACH CHILD – absolutely horrendous and does nothing to progress learning. Stephanie, Croydon |
If after 7 days your entry isn't posted above, please send it again marked, ‘resubmission'
-------------
