The Gibraltar NASUWT has today circulated a copy of the Chief Minister's letter to all its members and told them that they will be balloted on whether or not they wish to take industrial action.

As a result, given the wide circulation the letter now enjoys, the Chief Minister is publishing the letter with this press release so it is available to anyone who wants to fully understand the terms of the response sent to the teacher's union and which has resulted in the decision to ballot for industrial action.

The Government has also received a communication directly from NASUWT in the United Kingdom notifying it of the fact that the ballot is taking place.

The Government considers that the Chief Minister's response is a fair, proportionate and reasonable response in the face of a claim for massive pay rises of almost 50% for starting salaries and which would amount to an increase of almost 70% over the past 7 year period.

Indeed, the Government notes that members of the Executive Committee of the teacher's union are on record themselves saying that their claims would be "foolish" if they exceeded 40%. Yet that is the quantum of many aspects of the claim put by the teachers.