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UK teachers reject government pay offer amid labour unrest

Published:Monday | April 3, 2023 | 3:19 PM
Members of the PCS union on the picket line outside the Passport Office in London, Monday, April 3, 2023. British passport office workers have kicked off a five-week strike, becoming the the latest group of civil servants to demand a pay raise in response to double-digit inflation. The action threatened to cause headaches for travelers ahead of the summer holiday season. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON (AP) — Teachers in England rejected the government's latest pay offer on Monday, raising the spectre of more strikes and further disruptions for parents and children as double-digit inflation sparks labour unrest across the country.

News that teachers had voted to reject the offer came as United Kingdom passport workers kicked off a five-week strike that threatens to cause headaches for travellers ahead of the summer holiday season.

Immediately after announcing the results of the ballot, the National Education Union scheduled one-day strikes for April 27 and May 2.

The walkouts are the latest in a wave of strikes that has disrupted Britons' lives for months.

Public-sector workers including doctors, train and bus drivers, airport baggage handlers, border officers and postal workers are demanding pay increases to keep pace with inflation, which stands at 10.4%.

A cost-of-living crisis fuelled by sharp rises in food and energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left many struggling to pay their bills.

Unions say wages, especially in the public sector, have fallen in real terms over the past decade.

The government had offered teachers an average 4.5% pay increase, plus a one-time payment of 1,000 pounds, which it described as “fair and reasonable.”

But the offer was rejected by 98% of the teachers who took part in a ballot on the proposal.

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