Striking teachers to hold Harrogate rally on Thursday

The National Education Union is to hold a rally in Harrogate on Thursday as part of a day of national strike action.

Teachers are due to strike on Thursday this week and Tuesday next week as part of their ongoing pay dispute with the government.

The action has been called after 98% of NEU members rejected the government’s latest pay offer.

Thursday’s rally by Britain’s largest teachers union will be held at Cambridge Crescent between 11am and noon and will include guest speakers from unions and the education sector.

Gary McVeigh-Kaye

Gary McVeigh-Kaye (pictured above), North Yorkshire branch secretary for the NEU, said:

“The government’s recent offer was an insult and in no way represented a serious negotiated settlement.

“Offering our members a 4.3% pay increase, whilst inflation is still over 10%, does not even begin to address the real terms pay cut of 24% most teachers have experienced under 13 years of Tory government.

“To add insult to injury, this pay increase was expected to be taken from already stretched school budgets.”

Mr McVeigh said the NEU had attracted 60,000 new members since its January strike ballot and called on the government to engage in “serious negotiations”.

Picket lines have been formed outside many schools in the Harrogate district on strike days.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has urged teachers to “get back to the classroom” and said a  4.5 per cent average pay rise would see the starting salary for a new teacher rise to £30,000.

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