The general secretary of the biggest teaching union has denounced high salaries in academy trusts as a “scandal” and called for limits on CEO pay.
Speaking to members of the NEU teaching union at its annual conference in Harrogate this morning, Daniel Kebede also warned that Labour would pay a “high political price” if it failed to improve teacher pay.
”While schools struggle to afford basic resources, whilst support staff are being paid poverty wages and whilst teachers are leaving the profession in droves, some academy CEOs are cashing in,” he told teachers.
Salaries in the hundreds of thousands are a “scandal”, he said.
Call for action over MAT leaders’ pay
Mr Kebede further demanded “full financial transparency” from every academy trust, without setting out further details.
He specifically highlighted the salary of Harris Federation CEO Sir Dan Moynihan, which was £515,000-£520,000 last year.
The Harris Federation told Tes earlier this year Sir Dan’s pay increase from the year before was in line with the 6.5 per cent increase for teachers, and the trust had added 4,000 pupils between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
In his speech, Mr Kebede also said he was “fearful” about the rise of misogyny in schools.
“Across our schools we are witnessing a disturbing rise in misogyny that is infecting classrooms, playgrounds and online spaces,” he said.
Social media platforms have become “breeding grounds” for misogyny, Mr Kebede added, warning: “We are in a 51 crisis.”
The NEU will campaign for the regulation of social media platforms, which Mr Kebede said is a “fight for the soul of our schools and our society”.
He said he was stunned by the TV drama Adolescence, which explores misogyny among teenage boys, but added that the representation of schools and teachers in the show was “neither fair nor accurate”.
Earlier in the conference, members voted for an urgent motion calling on the NEU’s executive to launch a formal strike ballot if the final pay offer to teachers for next year remains unacceptable or if the government does not announce a real-terms funding increase in its Spending Review in June.
Strike threat on teacher salaries
Speaking to the press after this vote, Mr Kebede said the formal ballot could be launched as soon as June, with strike action possible in the autumn term.
He called on the education secretary Bridget Phillipson to publish the report of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) - the independent body that makes recommendations on teacher pay - immediately.
Today he said: ”If the STRB recommendation is not above inflation, if it is not a pay award that takes a step towards a correction in pay, if it does not address the crisis in recruitment and retention, and unless it is fully funded, then we stand ready to act industrially.”
He warned that, if this was the case, the union will make Labour MPs “pay a high political price through our campaigning in their constituencies”.
”Phillipson can publish the STRB report today, and on time as promised,” he added.
“The refusal to commit to fund fair pay and the wider funding of education is not just a policy failing - it is a betrayal.
“It is a betrayal of a generation of children who get one chance at school.”
Mr Kebede said there should be more money for special educational needs and disabilities, mental health support, a pay rise and free school meals, and called for a 2 per cent wealth tax to raise money for public services.
He also criticised Nigel Farage, the leader of the political party Reform UK, saying that the NEU will continue to fight any attempts by the political right to dictate what teachers teach.
In response to Mr Kebede’s comments on academy trust leaders’ pay, Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: “Education is a crucial public service and especially large trusts are complex and demanding organisations. We should want to attract and reward the best leaders at all levels in schools.
”Trust boards have a duty to make sure pay decisions are robust and reasonable - a duty that is closely monitored by the Department for Education - and school trust accounts are the most transparent in the sector.”
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