Heads to vote on first ever walkout

The National Association of Headteachers, which has 3,300 members in the region, will decide whether to walk out on November 30 over the Government’s controversial plans to raise pension contributions.

A ballot will be held between September 29 and November 9 to decide if the first NAHT strike in its 114-year history will go ahead.

The union, which represents 28,500 headteachers, deputy and assistant heads across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, would join the TUC “day of action” if negotiations with the Government to resolve the pensions dispute are unsuccessful.

Up to three million workers, including firefighters, social workers and driving test examiners, are set to take part in the action.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has supported the strike, while the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) is also expected to hold a ballot on autumn term walkouts.

Steve Iredale, NAHT Vice-President and headteacher at Athersley South Primary School, near Barnsley, said he took “no pleasure” in the industrial action but had been left with “no alternative”.

He said: “We have had rocky times in the past, but I’ve never known it quite like this.

“Those of us who have passed 50 are really fighting for the 25-30 year olds in the profession.

“We will end up with people not wanting to step forward into senior roles.

“The Government are using valuations on these pensions that are two years out of date. We have challenged them on this but they have refused to change it.

“Now we need to look to find other ways to get the message across. We need to protect our kids’ future.”

A Government-commissioned report by the former Labour Minister Lord Hutton in March called for final salary pension schemes to be scrapped and replaced with average career salary schemes for public sector workers.

The report also proposed a rise in monthly contributions and called for a rise in the retirement age to 68. The majority of headteachers retire between 60 and 65.

Mr Iredale added that head-teachers are planning to lobby parliament on October 26, during the half-term holiday, in a last-ditch attempt to avert the planned strike action.

“We have done enough to encourage the Government to negotiate,” he said. “We accept the country is in a mess, but we don’t want to be a scapegoat.

“I believe the best way to resolve differences is the same as we would do in school – to sit down and try and find the common ground.”

Mr Iredale added: “If this does not achieve anything, there is the possibility of further action. But there is optimism this can be resolved.”

General secretary Russell Hobby, who will address members at the NAHT Yorkshire Regional Conference in Wakefield today, said the decision to ballot members was taken with “great reluctance”.

He said: “No school teacher wants to strike and it is a symbol of their anger over this issue that they are even considering it as an option.

“For many, the attack on pensions is more than a question of attacks on individual retirement plans but a threat to the future of education itself.”

The Government urged unions to call off the “day of action”. A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We are totally committed to genuine engagement with the unions.”