Almost 3,000 teachers in Cumbria will stay away from their classrooms on Thursday after members of the National Union of Teachers voted in favour of strike action.
The teachers have decided to walk out because they have been offered a below inflation pay rise of 2.45 per cent, with further rises of 2.3 per cent for the following two years - inflation is currently 4.1 per cent.
NUT members, of which there are 2,700 working in Cumbria, are demanding a ten per cent rise in pay, or £3,000 for every teacher in the country, whichever is the greater.
Allyson Ingall, president of the NUT in Cumbria, said that teachers were striking because the Government's offer constitutes a real-term pay cut, and they believe that for education in the country to improve in the future, pay needs to go up to attract younger teachers.
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