Why are bloody teachers striking AGAIN?

[noblegiraffe]

Because, dear hearts, the government, when they offered us a pay rise of 4.5%, mostly unfunded for next September and all 4 teaching unions thoroughly rejected it, Gillian Keegan said that teachers would then have to take their chances with the independent pay review body and that there would be no further negotiations.

So teachers did. And the independent pay review body, who seem to have rather more of a handle on the current crisis in teaching than the government, recommended that teachers should get a 6.5% pay rise to introduce some stability into the system.

We only know this because the independent pay review body findings have not been published, but this figure was leaked.

Calls for the government to publish the report have been ignored. Most recently, a freedom of information act request to the DfE for the report was rejected, because the DfE says it's "not in the public interest".

Why is it not in the public interest to know what the independent pay review body has recommended? This report is published every year.

In the meantime, Rishi is briefing the press that he will reject the independent pay review body's recommendations, after making a huge fuss about how he always accepts independent pay review body recommendations.

Why should this matter to parents? Because headteachers are currently trying to write their budgets for September. The end of term is approaching. This job is currently impossible because headteachers don't know how much more they are expected to pay teachers next year, (6.5%? 5?% 4.5%?) and they have no idea how much extra money their school will be given to account for the pay rise (all? some? None??). This makes a massive difference as staffing costs account for the vast majority of school budgets. Should they be planning to cut GCSE subjects? Make staff redundant? Or will they actually be able to plan in some literacy support? That they don't know is intolerable.

A senior government advisor said that school budgets last year weren't worth the paper they were written on because of this same issue, and that it shouldn't be allowed to happen again.

Yet here we are.

The government are trying to drag this out to the summer before they make their pay announcement because then they'll be on their holidays and the 4 teaching unions' ballots will have closed.

Your reason for striking differs from that of the OP who is all about money.

@Efficaciou5 this is completely unfair and untrue. I'm unclear if you have any skin in the game at all...

So, 9 pages in and still nobody has managed to answer the OP's original rhetorical question.

Countless posts (including the OP) complaining about pay, conditions etc, but not one explaining the reason for striking.

Why striking ? ... What is it about striking that those who have chosen to do so believe that it's a particularly effective way to achieve their aims ?

Well said @noblegiraffe

I had a meeting with my head this morning (I am school admin). The schools budget is in a dire state. I am keeping my job but my hours are being cut AGAIN. I started this job on an 8 - 4 three days per week and 8 - 1 two days per week. As of September I will be paid 8:30 to 3:15 one day and 8:30 - 12:30 on the others. This means that when children are collected late I will be keeping them safe in the office unpaid and I will probably we working from 8:00 every day unpaid because my actual workload isn’t decreasing. School just can’t afford the wage bill due to lack of funding. Two of our TAs have been laid off. We already laid off some TAs and all midday supervisors during the covid pandemic. One of our cleaners is retiring and won’t be replaced.

The Head and the governors WANT to pay us what we deserve but our funding just doesn’t cover the costs of running a school and providing a decent education. Some if our classes don’t even have a teacher! They are taught by nice cheap “non qualified teachers” who are basically higher level TAs.

Teachers deserve a pay increase but it needs to be FUNDED. I would say that I’d happily pay higher tax for increased pay for teachers, nurses etc. but I don’t actually earn enough to pay tax!

Striking is the widely used, legal and democratic means to raise grievances. It has been for a long time.

What else would you suggest?

Because this at least gets us in the news and makes people notice. I've been on marches about funding over the last few years and they don't even make the local news. It makes people notice. This government don't give a toss about comprehensive education, they don't want to listen to us, but by withdrawing our labour we're harder to ignore.

Post covid in reality people just don’t care, they have been through too much. None of the strikes have worked, not one. This will be no different. We learnt to live with uncertainty and inconvenience a long time ago.

In your place I would work harder at negotiating, and probably try and get the public on side.

So, 9 pages in and still nobody has managed to answer the OP's original rhetorical question.

It's there in the OP. The NEU threatened strike action in July if the govt refused to publish the independent pay review report and say whether they were going to accept the recommendation of 6.5%.

The government have done neither.

I have also noticed it never makes headline news now because people have checked out.

Excellent explanation!

@GCalltheway I presume you don't have children of school age? God help you if you do.

None of the strikes have worked, not one.

The government initially wanted to give us 3%. That was revised upwards to 4.5%. Now the independent pay review body is recommending 6.5%.

Total mystery how Scottish teachers got 14% immediately after their industrial action then 🤷‍♀️Maybe someone cast a spell or something on the Scottish government?

Someone once said to me - there is a Navajo Indian saying:

'There is no we.
There is only I you
until there is affinity"

I took this to mean some members of the human race use the word 'we' as a deflection tactic.

So it is totally and utterly untrue that

'PEOPLE' don't care.

Actually WE do.

I am seriously wondering what anybody is doing on this site who doesn't.

The site is called MUMSNET

That kind of implies that the people on it have an understanding that young peoples interests are important. And their parents.

So yes, we do care

and deflection tactic to suggest no one does. Complete rubbish.

And how can anyone negotiate with a government who refuse to even come to the table?

Thank goodness there are still a lot of witches up there.

More spells needed...

🤣🤣

In your place I would work harder at negotiating, and probably try and get the public on side.

😂

We'd have to storm Parliament and kidnap Gillian Keegan. Unions can't negotiate when she won't talk to them.

Do you really think teachers haven't been writing to MPs, lobbying hard and trying to get the ear of the DfE for YEARS?

We didn't suddenly say 'Oh. We're not happy with our pay - all out, folks. Sod the kids!'

You strike when you've exhausted all other options.

What do you suggest for 'getting the public on side'? The media won't cover it or challenge the Government narrative.

Should we be out pamphleting? Storming radio studios?

If falling down schools, shit behaviour, no support for SEN children, no maths teachers in a GCSE class, falling down schools and a total lack of resources isn't getting through to the public, then a few of us on TV (where they never invite us on) isn't going to make any difference, is it?

@lifeissweet no point kidnapping her. No one would care enough to pay the ransom

Excellent post @noblegiraffe! As a teacher and a school governor it's so frustrating that the public aren't aware of the whole narrative.

This government are a shower of bastards. General Election now.

I'm not sure at all that 'the public' aren't aware of the whole 'narrative'.

Just that it isn't joined up yet.

For some people common interests have not yet been identified.

You are not thinking straight.

A GE would solve nothing - Labour do not support the pay demands either.

You are genuinely wasting your time. I say that kindly.

No. I meant to employ some 'enhanced interrogation techniques' to get her to speak to us.

You're right, though. The education brief for
The Tories has pretty much always been 'where we stick the losers we can ignore'. They won't care. They'll just replace her with the next one for a few months.

Oh dear. Let's be kind shall we?

Can we talk GC through the G.C.S.E or even A level politics syllabus?

I'm not a teacher, but I think I could cobble that together...

The real world of employment is a competitive one, and like everybody else across all industry sectors, if you raise a grievance with your employer and you're dissatisfied with the outcome, then you're free to leave.

The 1970's are over. Let go ...

Deliberately disrupting the daily lives and education of innocent children and their families who pay handsomely to line your pockets, whilst hiding with the rest of your flock behind the local representative of your preferred militant, dying, weak subscription-collecting union because your collective demands to be paid more than you're proven to be worth or are unhappy with the conditions under which you're performing your role achieves nothing other than proving your selfishness, weakness and pathetic desperation.

Referring back to the 9% reference from an earlier post, there's a reason why the remaining 91% of complainants remain .... Because they're unable to survive in the real world.

Labour may not raise pay by enough, but as much as they are disappointing me at the moment, I think they are more likely to talk
and listen and consider some of the other things we're asking for.

They might choose to look into the inspection regime or make some changes to exams (SATS for instance) or workload. I do actually trust them enough to listen and do the things they can. It is not in their interest for the whole thing to fall apart on their watch, after all.

They can't be a whole lot worse than this bunch.

Pay is not the only thing we need the DfE to engage about. It's bigger than that.