London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 04, 2025

Fresh strike misery as schools could face more action and civil servants to walkout

Fresh strike misery as schools could face more action and civil servants to walkout

Union tells teachers to reject ‘insulting’ pay offer and PCS announce major industrial action
Britain is facing the prospect of further strike misery after a teaching union urged members to reject a pay offer and civil servants announced a fresh walkout by 133,000 workers at the end of next month.

The National Education Union (NEU) said it would recommend members reject what it called an “insulting” pay offer from Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

Thousands of schools across the country were forced to partially or fully close during the last teachers strike on March 15 and 16.

Meanwhile, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said hundreds of thousands of workers would walk out on April 28 in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Strikes in the coming weeks include a five-week walkout in the Passport Office from April 3, raising the possibility of widespread disruption for Britons awaiting a passport renewal.

PCS members working for Ofgem in London and Glasgow will strike for six days from April 10-14 and on April 17.

In a statement released on Monday evening, the NEU said the offer amounts to a £1,000 one-off cash payment for the present school year (2022/23) and a 4.3 per cent consolidated pay rise for most teachers for next year (2023/24).

Nurses and paramedics are currently voting over a similar pay deal struck by health unions.

But the NEU said its analysis suggested that between two in five (42 per cent) and three in five (58 per cent) of schools would have to make cuts next year to afford it.

Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “This is an insulting offer from a Government which simply does not value teachers.

“It is now crystal clear that we have an Education Secretary and a Government that is ignoring the crisis in our schools and colleges.

“By refusing to address the legitimate and reasonable request to bring to an end more than a decade of below-inflation unfunded teacher pay increases, the Government is driving teaching and recruitment retention in schools in England to breaking point.

“No child benefits from this level of underfunding. Investing in the education of this generation of children and young people, those hit so hard by Covid, is essential to economic recovery.”

Members of the NEU will begin voting on the deal from Monday evening and the ballot will run until Sunday. Results of the ballot will be announced at the NEU conference on April 3.

Four separate education unions had been engaged in “intensive” talks with ministers over pay, conditions and workload.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the headteachers' union NAHT, said the union had received an offer and would make a further statement on Tuesday.

The NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said they would ask for feedback from members before recommending a deal.

A 10-day strike by security staff at Heathrow is also expected to disrupt travel from April 9, with British Airways announcing that it would cancel around 32 flights a day as a result of the action.

A BA spokesman said: “Following Heathrow’s requirement for us to reduce the number of passengers travelling during the period of its employees’ proposed strike action, we’ve regrettably had to make a small number of adjustments to our schedule.

“We’ve apologised to customers whose travel plans have been affected and have offered them a range of options, including rebooking on to a new flight with us or another airline, or requesting a full refund.”

BA has already cancelled around 5 per cent of its flights during the industrial action and stopped selling tickets for strike days. The cancellations fall on short-haul routes and the long-haul services are not affected.

Heathrow insisted it had sufficient contingency plans in place to cope with the strike.

However, strike action has been suspended on the railways after members of the RMT voted in favour of a pay offer made by Network Rail.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
×