The government has escalated its pay dispute with unions, warning failure to meet its terms for talks risks teachers getting a worse deal than health workers, and calling general secretaries in for one-on-one meetings.
A Department for Education source warned the National Education Union’s continued refusal to pause strikes to start pay talks “risk backfiring”.
Unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists have all taken up the government’s offer of formal pay talks, suspending strike action to do so.
The DfE source said the stalemate in education “means nurses have been in the room negotiating hard for their members, which could result in them getting a better deal than teachers.”
