Revealed: Teaching union barons holding schools to ransom over pay rake in nearly £260,000 in salary and benefits – as 4.5m teachers are set to walkout this week
- Members of the National Education Union planning to walk out on Wednesday
- The union’s two general secretaries rake in a combined £260,000 each year
Two union barons holding Britain’s schools to ransom over teachers’ pay rake in nearly £260,000 themselves in pay and benefits.
Members of the National Education Union, who are planning to walk out on Wednesday, are headed by two general secretaries Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney. The industrial action threatens to see up to 4.5million pupils sent home.
But the pair run the risk of being called out of touch as they accuse the Government of unacceptable pay increases for their members while they enjoy six-figure sums.
The NEU’s annual report discloses the pair are on a combined £219,848 salary as well as £46,982 in respect of benefits.
Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted, joint general secretaries of the National Education Union
In a 2020 Zoom meeting, Mary Bousted said pupils were ‘mucky, who spread germs, who touch everything, who cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress’.
Their split of the money and remunerations are understood – based on previous years – to see Dr Bousted receive slightly more than her colleague.
She is no stranger to controversy and had to admit she got it ‘wrong sometimes’ after she made offensive remarks about children in May 2020.
In a Zoom meeting, Mary Bousted said pupils were ‘mucky, who spread germs, who touch everything, who cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress’.
Mr Courtney is a former leader of the Socialist Teachers Alliance and once promoted a Parliament Square protest to ‘Stop Boris’ in 2019
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is to meet leaders from the National Education Union in a bid to resolve a teachers´ pay dispute which threatens disruption to schools across the country
Last-ditch talks will be held today in a bid to resolve the teachers’ pay dispute which threatens disruption to schools across the country.
Union leaders will meet Education Secretary Gillian Keegan after previous talks failed to break the deadlock.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: ‘This is the last chance to avoid the strike on Wednesday.
‘However, on Friday the Department for Education failed to meet the deadline to its evidence to the teachers’ pay review body.
‘We can only assume this is because they know that their recommended increase for teachers’ pay will not be acceptable to our members and will contradict the evidence they must have put in about teacher recruitment and retention difficulties.
‘That said, we hope the Secretary of State will bring forward concrete proposals to end this dispute and avert the strike action.’
A source close to the Education Secretary said she will use the meeting to reiterate her call from the weekend for teachers to inform schools if they plan to strike.
The source also said the Government will ‘continue to be open and collaborative in meetings with the unions’.
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