Teachers plan eight days of strikes

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Teachers belonging to the National Education Union are planning to strike for eight days in May unless their pay demands are met.

The NEU is calling out its members in primary and secondary schools on Wednesday 1 May, Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 May, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16, and Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 May.

The union says that despite efforts to reach a negotiated settlement, the States Employment Board has refused to move from an unconsolidated pay offer that would result in its members taking a real-terms pay cut of 3.5%.

Pictured: The NEU has called its members to strike for eight days in total across May. 

The effect of the May Bank Holiday and Liberation Day mean that NEU teachers would be on duty for only one day during the week of 6 May exacerbating the impact of the action. 

However, the union says that it will exempt from action those teachers involved in preparing year 11 and year 13 students for public examinations.

NEU Regional Secretary Ian Stevenson said: “Teachers always take industrial action only as a last resort, we hope that the prospect of sustained strike action in May will concentrate the minds of the States Employment Board and lead to a negotiated settlement, before taking such action becomes necessary.”

Pictured: The last strike was on 26 March.

He continued: “Teachers play an essential part of the future prosperity and wellbeing of Jersey and its people. Teachers in Jersey want a fair deal over pay and like everyone else, to be treated with respect and dignity at work. The pay offer from the States Education Board is an insult to the profession.”

The planned industrial action will mark the second time teachers have walked out over the pay dispute. Last month, hundreds rallied in the Royal Square in protest.

In a speech to the crowd, teacher Emma O’Prey described the profession as a “vocation under constant siege” due to the increasing work and scrutiny being heaped on educators, while pay stagnates.

Video: Teachers and union leaders addressing the crowds in the March strike.

NASUWT – the other union that represents local teachers – has said they will not take part in the strikes.