Teachers overthrow one-day strike call

FRAN ABRAMS

Education Correspondent

Britain's biggest teachers' union has voted by more than four to one against a national one-day strike over under-funding, it was announced last night.

In a secret ballot of the 160,000-strong National Union of Teachers, 80.3 per cent of voters opposed strike action, overturning a vote at their Easter annual conference.

The announcement followed a campaign by NUT leaders against strike action. Left-wingers have accused its general secretary, Doug McAvoy, of unfairly trying to influence the members' decisions.

Mr McAvoy said the NUT will continue to campaign against under-funding and rising class sizes. More than 4,000 teachers could face redundancy after the Government refused to fund their 2.7 per cent pay rise earlier this year, forcing local councils to make cuts. More than one- quarter of primary school children are in classes of 30 or more, and this figure looks set to rise. The NUT is committed to holding local strikes in schools where teachers believe their situation has become intolerable.

Mr McAvoy said the ballot result proved that a large proportion of conference delegates were following their own narrow agenda rather than representing members' views, adding that "members do not want to see the campaign for proper funding of the education service diverted into gesture politics".

Meanwhile, the second biggest teachers' union, the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, announced yesterday that it would survey its members on whether they were prepared to strike over class sizes.

nSuspensions of head teachers and deputies have more than doubled in the last 12 months, the National Association of Head Teachers said last night. Sixty-eight were asked to leave their schools: 17 on grounds of competence, 31 for poor conduct and 20 because of ill-health.