MP Hazzard at Downing Street with pay demand for teachers

MP Hazzard at Downing Street with pay demand for teachers

6 December 2023

SOUTH Down MP Chris Hazzard joined teachers in London last week who delivered a letter to Rishi Sunak demanding a better pay deal.

Mr Hazzard was in the capital for a briefing from the National Association of Head Teachers in Westminster before accompanying local teachers to hand in their letter to Downing Street.

The MP said teachers deserve fair pay and conditions.

“It is disgraceful that teachers have again been forced on to the picket lines at a time when workers are facing a huge squeeze on their finances due to the cost of living crisis,” he said.

“Teachers here have consistently seen their wages fall in real terms year after year. Like their colleagues across these islands, they deserve the fair pay rise they are being denied by the Tories.”

Mr Hazzard said 13 years of savage Tory cuts have “stripped our public services to the bare 

bone” and that in the absence of an Executive, the British government should immediately bring forward a fair deal for public sector workers here. 

He added: “Public patience has run out. Workers cannot wait any longer. We need an Executive restored now and all parties working together to support public sector workers and services.”