Pupils face new results chaos in exams strike after country’s largest board of testers voted in favour of strikes
- Unison members rejected a 3 per cent rise plus a £500 payment to walk-out
- It could mean chaos while papers are being marked and scores processed
- And see pupils not getting some of their grades on results day after they strike
A-level and GCSE results could be delayed this summer after staff at the country’s largest exam board AQA voted in favour of strikes.
Members of the Unison union want to walk out over pay, having rejected a 3 per cent rise plus a £500 payment.
It could mean chaos while papers are being marked and scores processed. And in the worst case scenario, it could stop pupils getting some of their grades on results day – although AQA says it has procedures in place to ensure a strike would have no effect.
If grades are delayed pupils may have to call universities to beg for their place to be held or risk losing it.
Unison, which represents around 160 of the 1,200 staff at AQA, said the strike was backed by 71 per cent. A turnout threshold of 50 per cent, needed to win ballots for strike action, was also reached.
A-level and GCSE results could be delayed this summer after staff at the country’s largest exam board AQA voted in favour of strikes (stock image)
TSSA members at Avanti West Coast (pictured one of its trains) voted in favour of walkouts by 86 per cent on a turnout of 66 per cent. No strike dates have been set in the pay dispute
Many more AQA staff in the Unite union are also considering a strike.
Unison regional organiser Lizanne Devonport said: ‘Staff have demonstrated they’re clearly unhappy with the way they’re being treated.’
AQA said pay rises would actually average 5.6 per cent and were ‘higher than many organisations’.
It came as Royal Mail managers and more rail workers also voted to strike.
TSSA members at Avanti West Coast voted in favour of walkouts by 86 per cent on a turnout of 66 per cent. No strike dates have been set in the pay dispute.
Unite said it would announce strike dates in the Royal Mail managers dispute in the coming days. It said the firm plans to cut 542 delivery managers’ jobs.