to think that the NUT strike WILL cause quite a lot of disruption actually!

[owlbegoing]

The NUT leader said that next month's strike date had been chosen to "cause minimum disruption to examinations" - and that "we deeply regret the disruption it causes parents and pupils".
What about other end of term events like Summer fairs and year 6 performances? They don't matter do they because they don't count towards government statistics!!

Strikes might be more effective if there weren't always so many people finding excuses not to actually strike when their union calls them out.

Union members would not be liable for trip. If a contract exists it is with the school, not individual teachers.

As I said before, I'm fairly sure the NUT guidelines suggests that trips can still go on and staff members are exempt from strike action if they wish. For example, how on earth could you strike if the strike action fell on day when you are on a week long residential trip.
As trips cannot often be re-booked for a different day, cancelling them would be daft so they are allowed to continue. I could probably look this up as I remember this from when I was pregnant and checking whether it affected maternity pay. However, I supposed to be exam marking and am procrastinating so I'm not going to research it.

I always think its a shame that strikes can only be about working conditions which unfortunately is a less emotive issue than the damage gove is doing to education. Wouldn't the strike be more effective if we were just striking until they throw Gove out of his job!

I agree with sarcasticfringehead. Too much emphasis on how much tougher teachers have it compared to everyone else, not enough emphasis on why well-qualified, well-motivated teachers are so important. If your union is emphasizing the former point (teachers are so hard done by) then they are doing you a disservice and not representing you as they should be.

Igggi - and the school has the contract with the teachers.

As soon as the strike day was announced weeks ago we cancelled and re-organised trips for 3 year groups which equates to just over 900 pupils. SLT might be a lot of things at my school but they would never expect union members to break a strike to allow a trip to go ahead.

And there is no 'if' about it. A contract will exist if you have paid for goods or services.

Permanently exhausted - yes, but striking is legal. They are not breaking their contract in a sackable way (good luck opening the school the next day if they did!). It is ridiculous to suggest an individual teacher could be sued for exercising their right to strike.

I'm no longer a teacher, or a member of a union, but this comment
"Strikes never get off the ground at our school. There's always some event happening and we aren't in the business of taking opportunities away from children!"
made me think [hmmm] Hopefully no staff in that school are Union members or expect Union support?

One or two are Union members, yes. And I don't blame them at all. It really annoys me that I'm unprotected because I don't believe in striking (unless I join the Voice which, imo, is too small to be worth the cost) Union members (I believe) have to vote on whether or not to strike. If an individual votes no but the majority vote yes then they are still expected to strike. That, imo is completely unfair. I don't believe the strikes achieve anything except disservice to the children we are teaching.

Manic if you are a teacher, and not a member of a union, then you're an idiot. I mean that kindly, you would benefit from the individual protection as well as the pay and conditions stuff.
It can seem odd that you have to go against your own wishes once the union voted, but that's the whole point - a collective voice. How could it work otherwise?

Striking will do nothing because the govt will not make a special case for the teachers.

Why not, they made a special case for the bankers.

You might be right. Maybe we should aim for a general strike of all public sector workers.

Maybe so, Igggi. I'm a big enough person to admit that was probably an ill thought out argument.

That said, I can't see how cancelling paid for school trips with no compensation for parents would have anything but a negative effect on what teachers are trying to achieve.

I am self employed. I cant go on strike. I have had pay cuts since 2006 due to the recession. I am not advocating a race to the bottom but there are a heck of a lot of people who have not only not seen pay rises of any description but have seen their pay and/or hours cut. Gove is the most hated government minister since Thatcher. if we are going to move him on then it will take a joint effort to do it. Something like every parent not sending their children in to SAT's. a one day strike just plays into the hands of the "all teachers are left wing loonies who put themselves before your darlings education" brigade. Igggi - general strikes went out in the 70's. change your tune. if you want to get Gove out then you have to employ 21st Century methods to achieve it.

I absolutely believe parents should have compensation, and the schools should pay it to them - if it can't be rearranged. I expect that is what would happen.

I have no interest in Gove as he holds no sway where I live. I was responding to the suggestion that teachers can't achieve change alone. There are other options.

We can have Gove out within the year if we vote sensibly in next year's General Election.

Up the revolution! I think NUT and similar are so
Ineffective specifically because they try and minimise the disruption. Striking is supposed to maximise it!!

Maybe we should aim for a general strike of all public sector workers.

We might come close to that on July 10th, with the number of unions on strike this time.

We have sports day on that day, but will of course rearrange - the last people we want to upset (more than we have to, anyway) are parents.

Same sort of thing happened last time in mine and ds's school - we both rearranged parents' evening.

There is a fine line between maximum disruption and actually alienating the people we need on our side.

A general strike just involving public workers?

That's not going to have anywhere near the effect of a genuine general strike where the country grinds to a standstill.

More strikes by public workers just makes privatisation look more attractive and easier to sell.

I thought a NUT strike was some type of asteroid that I hadn't heard of before. That would cause a bit of disruption.

I love this, comedy gold:

"One or two are Union members, yes. And I don't blame them at all. It really annoys me that I'm unprotected because I don't believe in striking (unless I join the Voice which, imo, is too small to be worth the cost) Union members (I believe) have to vote on whether or not to strike. If an individual votes no but the majority vote yes then they are still expected to strike. That, imo is completely unfair"

I could just be frighteningly old-fashioned, but to me if you sign up to a union it's about solidarity, not a sort of special insurance policy. If I had your personal case (negotiating with management, taking a lot of time out of my day dealing with HR and trying to argue your corner) I expect not to see you crossing a picket line.

Looking at your argument, you're basically saying that people should get everything for nothing. You can ignore the union's democratic mandate to strike because you don't feeeeeeeel like it. You can even not belong to the union, but people like me should spend their spare time, their weekends and part of our day jobs protecting you. Is this not the very definition of entitlement?

As for calling people scum, I maintain that scabbing is bad. Doing your day job is not bad. Crossing a picket line is bad. You aren't scum if you spend your day wiping old people's bums or working to create policy or teaching classes of 30 kids. You are scum if you cross a picket line and then say "Oh well, I didn't vote for it!" or "I don't see why I should have to join a union to get representation! After all, I'm worth it!"

Hope that helps.

If you have a child in Year 6, you should be invested in this strike, as it is your child who is going to be affected most by the upcoming changes in education.

School fetes can be run by support staff, parental volunteers and Governors. Plus they won't remember this fete in a few years. However, they will remember disruption to their secondary education in terms of teachers leaving, qualifications changing, and specifications becoming more difficult and less relevant for the rest of their lives because it might lead to them becoming disengaged with education.

Yes, I'm a teacher so yes you might think I'm biased.

But I'm striking so that your child does not get fucked up by the education system over the next few years. I prioritise that a lot higher than the changes to my pension etc.

Oh dear shockingly you are not helping your case are you? You sound a bit deranged frankly.