First strike: Industrial action in the education sector

On 1 February 2023, thousands of workers went on strike on in England and Wales. It was the biggest single day of strike action in decades. Among those striking were train and bus drivers, lecturers, civil servants, border control staff, librarians, and for the first time since 2016, teachers.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) union stated that about a third of schools in England and Wales, more than half of teachers were on strike, with nine per cent closed entirely. Teachers were also on strike in areas of Scotland as part of rolling industrial action.

Action!

Low wages and high workloads are at the forefront of the disputes. General Secretary of the National Education Union Mary Bousted referred to this as a ‘toxic combination’, leading to a third of new teachers leaving the profession within five years. The NEU announced that the strikes would be taking place in January following a 90.44 per cent majority vote by its members in England and 92.28 per cent majority in Wales. The next largest teaching union, NASUWT, said that its balloting had returned overwhelming support for strike actions, but that as it had fallen below 50 per cent in its turnout it would not be calling for strike action.

During the build-up to the strike action, the government kept returning to the fact that teachers had just received a five per cent pay rise. However, this increase comes after years of pay freezes, with any mild pay increases substantially below the rate of inflation. This, combined with a national cost-of-living crisis, has left many teachers struggling to pay their bills.

On the day of the strikes, we heard many rebuttals from MPs and the general public, arguing that if teachers received pay increases, the country would be plunged into deeper financial difficulties. They argued that this would mean an increase of taxes across the board and further rises in inflation, which would impact other industries.

A flawed argument

If the current demands for further pay increases were met, what tangible impact might that have? Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously stated a 10 per cent pay rise would cost each British household £1,000 a year in higher taxes.

However, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this isn't the case. The Guardian reported in December that if Sunak's methodology was used, his figures are still incorrect. The total public sector pay bill in 2021/22 was £233bn. Using the 10.1 per cent average figure for the consumer price index forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, ‘the cost would be £23.5bn’.

According to the IFS, the rises wouldn't necessarily increase inflation either. ‘A below-inflation public sector pay rise will not increase inflation, especially if lower-paid staff are the biggest beneficiaries of a deal. The public sector does not increase its charges to reflect higher staffpay, as private-sector firms might. The extra spending power given to public-sector workers pay is also likely to be spent on energy bills and food, which are costs dictated by global markets.’

For many, the process of striking is a difficult paradoxical conundrum in itself, as it directly leads to a loss of earnings they likely can't afford. As a teacher, I know many others who voted to strike, but weren't then able to follow through with action in February. They said they felt guilty being in school on that day, as though they were letting down their striking colleagues when they wanted to support them, but that they had no choice financially but to work.

Personal choices

While I vaguely remember the 2016 strikes, they weren't nearly successful in causing disruption, with the majority of schools staying open. Like me, many teachers didn't strike in 2016, even though we had been urged to do so. At the time, I robustly defended my decision to never strike, because it would affect my students’ progress. Why did I then choose to strike this year? What had changed? It was a complex decision and one I wrangled with over quite some time.

I came to the decision that the loss of income was worthwhile for the first strike day to send a message to government, but I am still considering whether I can bear the financial weight if I strikes on all three of the next proposed striking days. I have many colleagues who feel similarly.

Impact on students

When I was deciding whether I could justify striking, the most difficult decision was regarding the impact it has on students. Some teachers in my school chose to go into work to teach their Year 11s for the day, knowing and accepting they wouldn't be paid, but wanting to ensure their Year 11s didn't miss out. I felt similarly regarding my Year 13 classes. I set cover work the day before and agreed to mark their work in my own time as usual. This is not what the unions advised, but I felt it was what I needed to do to alleviate misgivings I felt that my actions could have on their progress.

This is the same dilemma that nurses, firefighters or anyone in the public sector faces when they are striking. How do we come to terms with the impact our decision may have on the people who rely on our work? I felt as though joining the strike was an act in support of these other public sector workers. It was an act of solidarity, sending a message to government that underfunding is not acceptable.

At the time of writing, a new pay offer has been tabled in Scotland and the teacher strikes called off – but nothing has been agreed for England and Wales. The internal debates about what to do for our upcoming strikes continues – and my decision remains uncertain.