Teachers balloted on strike

HEAD teachers are being balloted on plans to join the national public sector strike over pensions cuts.

Members of the National Association of Head Teachers could take part in the one-day walk out on Thursday, June 30.

Other teachers’ unions and the Public and Commercial Services Union have already voted to take part in the industrial action which could close most Oldham schools.

Tony Harrison, secretary of Oldham National Union of Teachers — the borough’s largest teachers’ union — said: “While strike action is always regrettable, the NUT welcomes the unanimous decision by the NAHT executive to ballot for strike action.

“We will work closely with other unions to ask Government to reassess their position and undertake the revaluation of the teachers’ pension scheme as promised.

“This is the ‘offer’ that the Government is making to teachers: pay 50 per cent more for your pension, and then when you retire at 68, your pension will be indexed only to the lower CPI measure of inflation.

“In other words, there is no shift at all from the Government’s original position — we must pay more, work longer and get less.”