Oxfordshire NEU Summer Newsletter 2025 - Flipbook - Page 3
Executive update
Why We Must Start Preparing for
a Formal Ballot
At
conference,
Teachers
9
it
was
Review
agreed
(STRB)
if
the
School
Our indicative ballot turnout was 47%, below the
address the reality of our situation by proposing
legal threshold, yes, but still a clear signal. This
yet
was
unfunded,
report
when will we?
to
another
Body
that
We have to ask ourselves: if we don’t act now,
below-inflation
fails
pay
rise,
without
the
full
machinery,
resources,
or
that we will need to escalate. That means moving
focus that a formal ballot brings. And within that
to a formal industrial action ballot.
47%, support for action was overwhelming.
Like
I
addressed
conference,
I
want
to
speak
An
indicative
9
ballot
isn t
the
9
end
it s
the
directly to those of you who may still be unsure.
beginning.
Those
and
attention, and they want to act. But to convert
responsibilities of industrial action. You are right
that intent into power, we must now organise
of
you
who
are
weighing
the
risks
9
to be thoughtful. Industrial action isn t easy, and
9
It
tells
us
our
members
are
paying
and prepare for what comes next.
it s not something any of us pursue lightly.
A
But the bigger risk now is doing nothing.
formal
sharpen
ballot
our
is
how
message,
we
and
build
give
pressure,
members
the
9
confidence and clarity to act. It s not something
Since 2010, our pay has fallen by over 20% in real
9
terms. That s not just a pay freeze
attack
on
the
value
of
our
4 9
it s a sustained
work.
We
feel
the
impact every day: the staff shortages, the burnout,
the
failed
recruitment
drives.
The
9
government s
9
own target of 6,500 new teachers? They won t hit
it on current terms, and they know it.
9
What they ve proposed instead is a 2.8% pay rise
in
September.
inflation
schools
4
9
It s
another
will
be
both
unfunded
real-terms
forced
to
cut
9
pay
and
below
cut.
Most
elsewhere
just
to
afford it. Once again, we re being asked to absorb
the cost of government failure.
we leap into unprepared, but it is something we
must
be
ready
for.
Because
without
remain spectators to our own decline.
it,
we
