HEADTEACHERS in Swindon feel ‘immense opposition’ to planned government changes to teachers’ pensions, according to a local union leader.

Mike Welsh, immediate past president of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said the plans are ‘unacceptable’ and warned that industrial action is likely if pensions are not protected.

Mr Welsh, who is headteacher of Goddard Park Primary School, said: “There is immense opposition to the Government proposals in Swindon.

“We have had a national survey, which Swindon is part of, and the vast majority – we are talking about 90-odd percent – are against the proposals and around two-thirds of school leaders have said they will take direct action.

“People came into teaching, in some cases many, many years ago, with a view that they wouldn’t have the highest salaries going but would actually have a proper pension.

“And it’s unacceptable if the country has had difficulties because of the financial sector that we would expect teachers to pick up the bill. Teachers should be treated with dignity when they go into retirement and have a proper pension.”

NAHT, which held its annual conference at Brighton at the weekend, voted overwhelmingly to ballot members on taking ‘all action necessary’ to protect pensions.

This comes after the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers passed similar resolutions in the past few weeks.

Mr Welsh said that teachers were prepared to make sacrifices along with the rest of the public sector to help with the spending cuts. But he said they felt that the pension proposals were a ‘double whammy’ because teachers were already subject to a pay freeze and a decision to link pensions to a different measure of inflation.

He said: “They are talking about raising contributions by three per cent and that’s a three per cent pay cut.

“People are going to have to work longer, pay higher contributions and get less for it at the end.”

Mr Welsh said Education Secretary Michael Gove had agreed at the conference to negotiate with teachers, but warned some form of industrial action, though not necessarily a strike, was on the cards if discussions were to fail.

“The secretary of state has responded and said ‘yes’ he will have discussions with us about this, but if they carry on with the proposal it could well lead to industrial action.”