Teachers plan to cause maximum disruption with strikes

TEACHERS are planning to co-ordinate strikes to close as many schools as possible, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Three of the UK’S major education unions will close strike ballots next week and if they reach the threshold needed for industrial action, teachers will be the next public sector group to walk out.

“Unions, obviously, will talk to each other about strike dates and try to coordinate them. It makes sense to do this – there will be more impact,” one education union source said. Teachers at any school can belong to one of a number of unions, meaning co-ordinated action is more likely to close entire schools.

Meanwhile, junior doctors are threatening action for three days in March if they win a ballot that opens on Monday. It coincides with Rishi Sunak’s meeting with union chiefs in Whitehall to try to break the deadlock over the crippling strikes.

The Prime Minister said he wants a “grown-up, honest conversation” with union leaders about a “responsible, reasonable and affordable” pay deal.

Last night, there were signs the Government was preparing to soften its stance on public sector pay. Letters sent to health unions from Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, say the Government is prepared to discuss recommendations for next year’s pay round and to improve on them, if unions agree to changes to boost productivity and efficiency.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, also made a new and improved pay offer to the Aslef train drivers’ union of 8 per cent over two years. The offer, which has been signed off by the Department for Transport, would take average train driver pay from £60,000 to £65,000.

However, the Treasury warned against public sector pay rises of more than 3.5 per cent, amid concerns they should not outstrip those in the private sector. In its official submission on pay deals, Treasury officials note that private sector wages are forecast to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2023-24 and says pay review bodies “should consider pay awards in relation to those in the private sector”. But it also says increases should be targeted on the jobs with the most “acute” recruitment and retention issues, leaving scope for extra boosts within the NHS, where there are more than 130,000 vacancies.

Unions reacted with fury to the suggestion that their pay rises would be capped at 3.5 per cent, with one leader saying: “The idea that 3.5 per

cent in any way provides a basis for a settlement is an alternate reality.”

The National Education Union has told its 300,000 members they have until next Friday to post ballots to ensure they arrive before the deadline. Members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers are also voting.

“Once we have the ballot result we will be able to declare what the pattern of action would be,” a union source told The Telegraph. “We would speak to each other, you would expect that.”

They argued this would be better for parents since it only means having to organise childcare on a limited number of days.

Today, Mr Sunak hosts an NHS Recovery Forum with experts convening in Downing Street to discuss how to improve and modernise the service.

Last night, the Unite union said its ambulance members would join the GMB and Unison in strikes on Jan 23.

NHS leaders said the situation was “deeply worrying” with “full walkouts” by junior doctors threatening even emergency cover.