last month<\/a>. Staff have since refused to carry out overtime and on-call work.<\/p>\nUnison claimed that the dispute has so far caused disruption to exam papers being sent out.<\/p>\n
‘Affordable and sustainable’<\/h2>\n An AQA spokesperson said: \u201cThe 5.2 per cent pay settlement is affordable, competitive and sustainable for AQA \u2013 bearing in mind the rate of inflation is 2.8 per cent, according to the Bank of England. The union\u2019s claim is flatly wrong: our pay rises in recent years have consistently exceeded inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAQA is an education charity that doesn\u2019t seek a profit \u2013 and yet we have awarded a pay increase in excess of our fee increases, which is a generous approach by any standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
They added that Unison was attempting to \u201calarm\u201d students and parents for its own purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow results to be delayed \u2013 indeed, we can assure those sitting AQA qualifications that the summer exam series will be delivered smoothly and to the high quality that schools and young people have come to expect from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exam board\u2019s staff previously went on strike on GCSE and A Level results days in 2022.<\/p>\n
‘Little choice’<\/h2>\n AQA sets more than half of GCSE and A Level papers taken in England, with about 1.4 million pupils sitting their qualifications every year.<\/p>\n
Unison AQA branch secretary Eoin MacGabhann said: \u201cStaff who keep the exam system running and make sure millions of students get accurate results on time deserve to be paid fairly for their work.<\/p>\n
\u201cAQA employees have seen the value of their wages slashed in real terms in recent years, while living costs have soared.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants to be on strike, but bosses\u2019 refusal to even talk means workers have been left with little choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaff know how important this time of year is, but unless AQA is serious about resolving these long-standing issues, further disruption and delays in students receiving grades look likely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Union threatens to disrupt summer exam series but AQA promises no results will be delayed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":247171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[149],"post-theme":[2345],"class_list":["post-247169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-aqa","post-theme-assessment"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t