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Original poster

Strikers

13 replies

dancingqueen123 · 11/12/2022 14:27

Whilst I fully support people's right to strike.... and understand why they are doing so.... it just doesn't sit right with me at the moment.

Haven't we had enough to deal with without hospitals, school, post & public transport being even more crappy than usual??

We need a change of government. Not workers pissing everyone off 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
lobsterkiller · 11/12/2022 15:09

Well if you can ask management to stop pissing the workers off that may help.

I have striked this year, first time in 35 years working. We didn't want to but felt we had no choice, we was fully aware of the impact to the public, hence the withdrawal of our labour.

It worked.

Original poster
dancingqueen123 · 13/12/2022 07:07

I'm glad it worked @lobsterkiller 💛

OP posts:
Whyarewehardofthinking · 13/12/2022 07:17

Considering the public keep voting Tory we can't guarantee that we will get a change in Government, so action needs to be taken now.

If it doesn't change your schools won't have teachers (hilariously we have 8 open positions for January that we can't fill, for Science, English and Technology, so that will all be non-specialist supply - 7 of those teachers are leaving the profession), your hospitals won't have nurses (one of my sisters has quit this year and will never go back. Got a management job a Tesco on more money and better hours) and you won't have public transport to get there.

So if we don't strike, what do we do? My next option is to leave the career I have been in for nearly 20 years, probably to work in Tesco.

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lobsterkiller · 13/12/2022 07:31

Thank you @dancingqueen123 it wasn't an easy decision we took. The org royally took the piss and if we didn't go now, we would have been buggered on everything.

Sometimes the relationship between us needs recalibrating. I hope I never have to do it again.

Original poster
dancingqueen123 · 13/12/2022 20:58

@lobsterkiller I hope you don't either 🤞

OP posts:
Original poster
dancingqueen123 · 13/12/2022 21:00

@Whyarewehardofthinking you would get the sack if you went on strike at Tesco.

Plus you wouldn't be denying kids their education.

I'm sorry, I want schools to be better funded too. But I also want them open now.

OP posts:
Whyarewehardofthinking · 14/12/2022 05:46

dancingqueen123 · 13/12/2022 21:00

@Whyarewehardofthinking you would get the sack if you went on strike at Tesco.

Plus you wouldn't be denying kids their education.

I'm sorry, I want schools to be better funded too. But I also want them open now.

I wouldn't need to be on strike in tesco though. I am paid for 32 hours a week and work roughly 70. The value of where I am on the payscale is only £4k more than 14 years ago, so lagging by approximately 22% if it matched inflation.

But we aren't striking about pay. It ia funding, but we cant strike about that. It's about the fact my school cannot afford the electricity bill. The fact that school has to pay the new 5% increase from an existing budget that already doesn't cover everything as the government does not fund the pay increase. We are making staff redundant. We now only have TAs who support a child with an EHCP for 1:1. No other TAs. Legal limit. And most of them are agency as we can't recruit. We have a breakfast club that we can't afford to fund; we beg local companies for supplies and managed to get Kelloggs to give us some cereal.

What do you think will happen if we can't staff a school? They will close. Do you think I want to close a school? Absolutely fucking not. Have you sen the figures for teacher recruitment? Have you met my top set year 11 with 37 students in it (I teach Chemistry) where we have covered sinks with a wooden board to turn them into desk space?

Let's not mention the strain we have with mental health. We have staff on long term sick. We have students with suicide attempts. Severe mental health issues with an 18 month wait for CAHMS, so students are kept in an office to stop them hurting themselves until a parent arrives (or cares enough to arrive) because an ambulance won't turn up for a child bleeding from the head after they smashed windows headbutting them.

Schools are at breaking point, as are many other sectors. Striking is the only option we have left.

Also, be careful whe suggesting that we are 'denying' students their education. I've been up working since 4.30 to make sure my mocks are marked; I soent almost all day yesterday covering for absent staff, and Tuesday is when I have most of my SLT time. I spent until 6pm trying to sort out referrals for students in situations with genuine risk. Once I had eaten with my own children I planned my lessons for today until 9.30 when I fell asleep.

I, and many of my colleagues, do not 'deny' an education, far from it. We provide it on weekends. School holidays, after school almost everyday.

During thr pandemic lots of people.shouted on here that if we don't like it, we should leave. Well, they have.

Educating students is now my least important job in school.

CoteDivoire · 14/12/2022 05:54

@Whyarewehardofthinking your post is a really sad read. I totally support your strike - if my DC missing a few days school results in some kind of positive change for school funding then it'll be worth it.

dolor · 14/12/2022 06:00

You really need to read the room, OP.

MrsMurphyIWish · 14/12/2022 06:01

Whyarewehardofthinking · 14/12/2022 05:46

I wouldn't need to be on strike in tesco though. I am paid for 32 hours a week and work roughly 70. The value of where I am on the payscale is only £4k more than 14 years ago, so lagging by approximately 22% if it matched inflation.

But we aren't striking about pay. It ia funding, but we cant strike about that. It's about the fact my school cannot afford the electricity bill. The fact that school has to pay the new 5% increase from an existing budget that already doesn't cover everything as the government does not fund the pay increase. We are making staff redundant. We now only have TAs who support a child with an EHCP for 1:1. No other TAs. Legal limit. And most of them are agency as we can't recruit. We have a breakfast club that we can't afford to fund; we beg local companies for supplies and managed to get Kelloggs to give us some cereal.

What do you think will happen if we can't staff a school? They will close. Do you think I want to close a school? Absolutely fucking not. Have you sen the figures for teacher recruitment? Have you met my top set year 11 with 37 students in it (I teach Chemistry) where we have covered sinks with a wooden board to turn them into desk space?

Let's not mention the strain we have with mental health. We have staff on long term sick. We have students with suicide attempts. Severe mental health issues with an 18 month wait for CAHMS, so students are kept in an office to stop them hurting themselves until a parent arrives (or cares enough to arrive) because an ambulance won't turn up for a child bleeding from the head after they smashed windows headbutting them.

Schools are at breaking point, as are many other sectors. Striking is the only option we have left.

Also, be careful whe suggesting that we are 'denying' students their education. I've been up working since 4.30 to make sure my mocks are marked; I soent almost all day yesterday covering for absent staff, and Tuesday is when I have most of my SLT time. I spent until 6pm trying to sort out referrals for students in situations with genuine risk. Once I had eaten with my own children I planned my lessons for today until 9.30 when I fell asleep.

I, and many of my colleagues, do not 'deny' an education, far from it. We provide it on weekends. School holidays, after school almost everyday.

During thr pandemic lots of people.shouted on here that if we don't like it, we should leave. Well, they have.

Educating students is now my least important job in school.

Show quote history

Agree with every word - maybe you should have this as an OP when we strike?

I posted on the ‘everyone is miserable and stressed’ post the other day. I cannot keep putting a snails on in front of classes - it’s too exhausting. Im dealing with suicidal pupils too. Who cares about our well being? I can’t just teach anymore - I’m a social worker, a parent (in the sense I’m buying food/health products out of my own money. I’m worried about my own bills, I can’t keep financially supporting others), a teacher of many subjects now. How many parents are aware that Im teaching an A-level I don’t even have a GCSE in?

This is why I will be striking. As I do care, not because I don’t.

MrsMurphyIWish · 14/12/2022 06:02

Smile -not snails. Although that may be funny.

SpangoDweller · 14/12/2022 06:09

@Whyarewehardofthinking @MrsMurphyIWish 💐 💐

I work in a sector which is undertaking industrial action (although my own grade isn’t). It’s tough going but ultimately we have no options left.

Nicedayout22 · 14/12/2022 06:35

DP is NHS (but due to postal strike didn't get enough turn out for a strike),my commute is bus and rail,and have school ahe children: I support the strikes happening despite the impact on my life. You can't expect people to keep taking real terms pay cuts for a decade, especially degree educated professionals, without it impacting key services. It's now at the crisis point. It needs resolving. Especially as average private sector pay rise is just under 7 %, there is room for negotiation.

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