Gove’s pay announcement says it all
The teachers’ pay award for 2014 contained little or no comfort and, underneath the headline, some worrying signs for the future.
• From September teachers on the top and bottom of the main and upper pay ranges will receive a 1% pay increase
• This increase will also be applied to the minima and maxima of TLR and SEN pay ranges and leadership bands
• It will be left to schools to decide whether and how to apply this rise to pay points between the maxima and minima
A pay cut
The first thing to register about this decision is that it cuts the real value of our pay for yet another year. The real value of teachers pay has fallen during the lifetime of the Coalition government by 15%.
This is made worse by the fact that many teachers may not receive any increase at all. Even where schools have agreed to retain the old M1-6 and UPS1-3 pay points they aren’t required by law to apply the 1% increase to any points between the maxima and minima of those pay ranges.
Further moves to PRP
Gove’s announcement included measures which will move us further away from a rate for the job and closer to discretionary individualised pay.
He advises schools to revise their pay policies again to ensure that they are basing decisions on performance. Within that he says that the DfE will make clear that “schools should consider, and set out, how any pay decisions for those on the maxima of pay ranges in September 2015 will take account of performance in applying any uplift to the national framework”. In plain language that means that in future years, even those at the top of their pay range may get no increase at all unless their performance is deemed to merit it.
He also decided to stop publishing the reference points which mirror the old incremental scales.
The NUT response
Obviously the NUT has condemned this pay award as derisory and inadequate and called on the Secretary of State to reconsider. But it is equally obvious that, short of significant national pressure from teachers, he won’t. So we will need to react strongly if we want to protect our pay.
These announcements are not the work of a Secretary of State under any meaningful pressure from teacher unions. Gove has not only refused to move an inch on any of the central issues in the NUT-NASUWT dispute about pension reform and national pay arrangements, he refuses even to talk to us about them. And then, to add insult to injury, he makes a derisory and partial pay award and steps up the move to individualised pay. All of this puts claims that the joint union campaign to protect teachers has won significant successes into proper context.
This latest attack on teachers is the act of a Minister emboldened by the ineffectiveness of trade union opposition to him. Gove may well be under pressure for other reasons, in particular the increasingly open contradiction between his academies and free schools agenda and his determination to control what schools do. The area of teachers’ conditions, however, gives him respite from all of that. It is the one policy issue on which he can be as confident and aggressive as he pleases. It didn’t have to be like that and he cannot have believed in 2010 that it would be so easy.
What can we do?
Locally NUT divisions will be working to ensure that the 1% increase, inadequate though it is, is applied to all teachers on all pay points. In Leeds, we believe that the vast majority of schools, including academies have adopted pay policies which include pay scales which mirror the old M1-6 and UPS1-3. We are advising reps and members to seek assurances from their head teachers that the 1% will apply to all and contact the NUT office where this is not provided. The response will be to encourage members to take sustained strike action to protect their pay.
National Action on July 10th
The Union’s ongoing campaign to defend pay, pensions and working conditions continues this term with a further day of national strike action on Thursday July 10th. This is likely to be the biggest day of co-ordinated action in the public sector since November 2011. Our support staff colleagues in Unison, GMB and Unite are currently balloting for strike action in opposition to their derisory pay award and have named July 10th as the opening day of their action. The results of these ballots are expected to be positive and are due in the week of June 22nd.
NUT members should encourage support staff colleagues to vote in their own union ballots. Together we will be much stronger and make an even bigger impact. Gove’s insulting pay announcement shows how important and necessary it is that we step up the pressure. If we can go into Autumn with a published calendar of action with other unions we may just wipe the smile of Gove's face.
Build a fighting leadership
The other important step members can take is to vote for Martin Powell Davies in the current General Secretary election and nominate Patrick Murphy for Deputy General Secretary. Both are activists and Executive members who have argued consistently for a calender of action rather than occasional protests and would take that approach into the future leadership of the Union.
