Schools could face teacher strikes in the autumn term over pay, a union leader has warned. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said there is "more and more frustration" among teachers. Teachers at the NEU's annual conference in Bournemouth will vote on Thursday on whether the union should "build capacity" to deliver national industrial action over pay and funding. It comes after an overwhelming majority of NEU teacher members in
England and Wales who took part in the preliminary ballot said they would strike to secure a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise and improved funding. Speaking to the media at the union's annual conference, Mr Kebede suggested strike action in the autumn term was a possibility and he did not rule out the union launching a formal ballot on walkouts. When asked when strike action could take place, he said: "My view is if there is a decision to go for a formal ballot, we should conduct that over a fairly significant period of time, looking to take action in September." The NEU leader called on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to be ready to open up "serious talks" to avoid a "collision course" with the union. Mr Kebede said: "The preliminary ballot result is exceptionally significant. We've had nearly 150,000 teachers vote for strike action. She has to take that seriously. She has to start engaging in a meaningful way." He also said the last time he met with the Education Secretary there was "no agenda" and it felt "wishy-washy". The union asked 300,000 of its teacher members in state schools and sixth forms across England and Wales what they thought. In England, half of the members voted. 90.3% of them said they would strike for better pay and more money for schools. In Wales, more than half of the teachers voted. 87.2% of them said they would strike for better pay and funding. An emergency motion, due to be debated at the conference on Thursday morning, calls on the union’s executive to “review, and learn from, the indicative ballot to build capacity to deliver local and national industrial action”. It suggests members are “prepared to act industrially” if Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer “fail to deliver” on teachers’ pay and school funding. Mr Kebede said conference delegates could decide to bring forward an amendment to the motion calling for a formal ballot to be held on strike action. He said: "I think that we have to absolutely consider the amount of work it would take to get through this government's antidemocratic strike thresholds in the context of a formal ballot." He also said: "I don't think, however, the mood is declining. I think if anything there is becoming more and more frustration developing amongst the profession as they're essentially realising that this Government is burning down the house as they leave government." Last year, teachers from the NEU went on strike for eight days in English state schools over pay. They stopped striking in July after accepting a 6.5% pay rise for teachers in England. On Wednesday, Mr Kebede stated: "The priority is that we win on the issue of pay and funding. The campaign will remain and industrial action will remain a tactic that could be deployed to win on the issue." He further added: "Any decision by this union to take strike action will not be a decision taken lightly. It's certainly not gesture politics. Education is in a polycrisis at the moment, whether it is recruitment and retention, school estate, crisis in funding, early years, Send (special educational needs and disabilities)." His remarks followed a recent event where the NASUWT teaching union, at their annual conference, decided that political campaigning should come before strikes before the general
election . 78% of NASUWT teacher members in England who took part in the union's survey voted against striking over pay and working conditions. Last month, the Department for Education (DfE) said that teachers' pay awards should "return to a more sustainable level" after "two unprecedented years". The Government agreed last July to up the teachers pay by 6.5% as suggested by the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB). This led to four education unions stopping their planned strikes. The DfE said that: "The independent STRB is currently considering evidence for this year's pay award, unions should engage with this process instead of striking before they even know what the pay recommendations are." The spokesperson warned: "Further strike action would cause more disruption to pupils who have already lost over 25 million school days due to last year's industrial action. Overall school funding is rising to over £60 billion in 2024/25, its highest ever level in real terms per pupil and teachers have already benefited from two historic pay awards totalling over 12% in just two years."