York teachers will be taking to picket lines again this week as schools are hit by another series of strikes.
The National Education Union (NEU) has announced that the next round of teacher strikes will commence tomorrow (Wednesday, July 5), and also be staged on Friday, July 7.
Currently, it has not been confirmed which York secondary schools or special schools will close or remain open.
Among York primary schools, just Copmanthorpe and Yearsley Grove have confirmed that they will be closed on both days.
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The unions NEU, NASUWT teaching union, the NAHY school leaders’ union and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), are balloting their members in England to take action again in the Autumn term.
The Government offered teachers a £1,000 one-off payment for the current academic year (2022-23), and an average 4.5 per cent pay rise for next year, but this was rejected by all four unions and the decision on next year’s pay in England has been passed to the independent STRB.
Michael Kearney, NEU secretary for City of York, said: "Teachers in York and nationally are as determined as ever to continue the fight to win better funding and pay for schools.
“Our resolve is only growing stronger due to the government not negotiating in good faith and failing to come forward with enough funding to prevent the continuing job cuts, increasing class sizes and diminishing support services for our students.
“Parents in York will be able to see the never-ending reductions in staff numbers, the high turnover of teachers and the inability to access specialist services - this is highly damaging to our children's education in the long-term.
“On top of this, the government is now preparing to ignore the advice of the independent pay review body which is another slap in the face for our teachers who are working the longest unpaid overtime of any profession in the country.
“The situation is so dire it is likely we will be joined in our action by the headteacher union in September.
“We want to reach an agreement to end this dispute and have already done so in Scotland and Wales. This shows that the only hurdle to a resolution is Conservative ideology, intransigence and incompetence - and it is our schools that are paying the price."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Any strike action is hugely damaging. We have made a fair and reasonable pay offer to teachers, recognising their incredible work and commitment.
"Thousands of schools received significant additional funding as part of the extra £2 billion of investment we are providing both this year and next.
"As a result, school funding will be at its highest level in history next year, as measured by the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies).”
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