TEACHERS’ unions are bombarding members with calls urging them to hurry up and vote to strike – amid fears the postal walkout will detail the action.
The National Education Union (NEU) has been pestering its 300,000 members with cold calls and texts pleading with them to back industrial action.
A source said: ‘They have been bombarding teachers with texts and calls – particularly in the week before Christmas’
They sent out their ballots at the end of October and need to get them all back by January 13 to call strike action.
But NEU insiders fear strikes by posties could wreck their own industrial action by leaving mountains of ballot papers uncounted in depots.
They have scrambled to get around the backlog by blitzing their members with phone calls and texts badgering them to get their ballots in.
A source said: “They have been bombarding teachers with texts and calls – particularly in the week before Christmas.
“Teachers have been getting several texts and calls a week. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, denied they had ordered the cold call offensive because they fear their strike plans could be ruined.
He said: “This was not to do with the postal workers strike.
“We use a variety of means of communication with our members.
“One thing we need to explain is that the government will not allow them to vote electronically, despite the government being prepared to elect the Prime Minister of the country by the Conservative Party electronically.”
The NEU have to get a 50 per cent turnout rate, with 40 per cent of eligible staff backing strikes to call a walkout.
