Teachers back strike ballot in pensions dispute

Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference, in Liverpool, passed a resolution yesterday condemning plans which they claim would see them work longer, pay more and receive less when they retire.

If agreed, a walkout by ATL members is likely to go ahead this summer. It would be the first time that the union has staged national strike action.

The last time it took a form of industrial action was in 1979, when members were instructed to leave their classrooms and hold a staff meeting in a row over pay.

The resolution passed yesterday condemned Ministers’ proposed changes to the teachers’ pension scheme, which would see the normal retirement age for teachers rise to 66 and later to 68.

School staff would also be forced to pay increased contributions, ATL says, and the value of pensions could be reduced by 25 per cent on average over the course of a teacher’s retirement.

Proposing the resolution, Alice Robinson, a secondary school history teacher and a member of ATL’s executive, said: “Teachers will have to work longer – to 66, 67, 68. Can you imagine being a reception teacher and trying to get on and off those little chairs at 68? I think not.

“A ballot for a national strike by the majority of teachers would have a significant political effect. The threat, we believe, would strengthen our hand in any negotiation.”

Teachers must let the Government know it has gone too far, Ms Robinson added.

“We have to do something – doing nothing is not an option. The Government will take it as a green light not just to move on pensions but on everything else.”

Although the resolution was passed by a majority, a minority said they were against strike action. Trevor Cope, a teacher from Devon, said: “I’m a teacher, and I’m a teacher first, last, until I stop teaching, and I can’t possibly take the decision to take strike action.”

The resolution notes “with deep regret the lack of any change on the part of the Government to its proposals for public sector pension schemes” despite meetings between the Government and the TUC.

It calls on ATL’s executive to consider “whether the failure of negotiations and the failure of reasoned argument now justify a ballot for strike action by members”.