Members of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of continuing their campaign of industrial action.

Most of the island’s teacher unions have been in dispute with the Department for Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) over pay, pensions, workload and conditions of service for over a year.

Regulations around industrial action required the NASUWT to reballot members in order to maintain the current dispute.

The union has said that 94% of NASUWT members in schools voted in favour of action short of strike action and 85% in favour of strike action while 87% of members at University College Isle of Man voted in favour of both action short of strike action and strike action.

Turnout was 57% in schools and 50% at the University College.

Members of the NASUWT have been engaged in action short of strike action since 24 February. The action was temporarily suspended while a State of Emergency due to the Coronavirus pandemic was in place and resumed on 29 June.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said: ’This ballot result underlines the continued anger and frustration from teachers at the ongoing failure of the DESC to address their concerns about their pay, pensions and conditions of service.

’Since 2010, teachers and school leaders have year after year faced the erosion of their pay, amounting to real-terms pay cuts of a third. The recent announcement on the pay award for 2020/21 will do little to address this erosion which is jeopardising the recruitment and retention of teachers.

’It also comes at a time when teachers’ workload is continuing to rise and changes are being proposed to pensions which would substantially worsen the arrangements for teachers.’

The NASUWT will be meeting with members to discuss the next phase of action, but in the meantime action short of strike action will continue.

Last month the government announced that the island’s teachers are set to receive their biggest pay rise in 15 years.

The pay award follows UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson accepting all recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). Under the deal on average teachers will get an extra on £1,250 on average and head teachers £1,970 more.

It is equivalent to a 3.1% increase in the overall pay bill, 2% of which is already included in budgets and the remaining 1.1% will be found from within existing budgets.

Dr Roach said it was ’completely unacceptable’ that the Manx government is not meeting the cost in full - and experienced teachers were not getting the pay award to which they are ’entitled’.