to keep DC off on strike day

[grumpusmum]

NC as some people know my MN username. I found out tonight that because of the UNISON strike next week my DC school is closing at lunchtime, so the HT expects the children to be picked up, taken home for lunch and then returned for afternoon lessons. The afterschool and breakfast clubs (which I use) are also cancelled. This is too short notice for me to get the day off work and whilst my Mum would have DC over at her house, I feel it's unreasonable for me to ask her to do four trips to school in one day. I get the staff have a right to strike but this arrangement seems unworkable. Would it be unreasonable for me to tell the school that I can't accommodate these arrangements and so am keeping the DC off that day or to say that they won't be returning to school after lunch that day?

Our school is closing for children (teachers still in - I'm guessing we will use it as ppa and be in class on our normal ppa day). We would have no lunches and nobody to cover lunchtime (teachers wouldn't be allowed to).
I would say if you can send them for morning lessons only - they are likely to do core subjects in the morning so won't miss much in the afternoon.
If any child normally has (and needs to access lessons) a 1to1 I wouldn't send in - better to do learning with someone at home!

Whatever happened to no crossing a picket line?

Um, the teachers as they did at my school.

How on earth could a teacher not be allowed to supervise lunch. What exactly are they required to do.

Or alternatively some parents could help out. It's only a day.

Teachers who do go in (no reason why they shouldn't) should not be asked to take the strike day as their PPA time if usually on another day. You can only carry out your usual duties. They should still give you your normal PPA time as usual.
I for one will not be supervising lunches, cleaning my classroom or changing bins and loo roll.
Sadly my TA has chosen not to strike as she can't afford to lose the pay so I reckon my class will be open but I haven't been asked about 'other duties'. I hadn't actually thought about lunch but I would imagine the supervisors will be in but not sure about catering...

"How on earth could a teacher not be allowed to supervise lunch. What exactly are they required to do."

"Or alternatively some parents could help out. It's only a day."

Totally missing the point.

The teachers don't supervise lunch as they cannot be asked to cover the duties of people who are taking strike action.

They can't be asked by who? Why can't they be asked?

Members of one union do not undertake the duties of striking members of other unions. During the last teachers' strike UNISON members were instructed not to cover the duties of striking teachers.

What point?

The fact children's education is being impacted negatively because teachers can't be asked to supervise lunch.

And if they aren't members of a union or they volunteer anyway or they are parents who are not members of a union?

So any union will always support another union, no matter the reason for striking? Seems a bit odd.

You want to hope that this is a one-off; the long-running teachers' strikes of the 1980s meant that we spent large chunks of time over several years having to go home each day at lunch and with no extra-curricular activities....

I remember this. My mum didnt work during the day then so at one point she had 4 extra kids coming round and eating their packed lunches at our house. We lived 3 minutes from school but some lived on the other side of town, some had both parents working etc. This was senior school but we were in the first/second years and were at that age that is too old for a childminder but too young to be left in charge of opening and locking up at home alone.

No word here, although if the last 3 teachers strikes are anything to go by it wont make any difference. There has not been a single striker at our school for years, not sure why as I know the HT has "views" and would fully support any striking staff, but it has never happened.

sunflowers

Yes, pretty much. Its not like it used to be, some unions would strike in support of other unions (happened a lot during the miners strike), but as long as a strike is deemed legal then other unions will support it by not stepping in to help out the employers.

Thats why Thatcher wanted to break the unions because it wasnt just each one individually that she was up against but them all. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.....

Teachers are not paid for a lunch break. It would be like asking an office worker to clean the toilets before work ( without pay) or a nurse to do some filing after shift ending (without pay) or a shop assistant to do an hours security work (without pay). Why should teachers do someone else's job for no pay?

I really hate this idea of 'sending in parents' when school staff go on strike. To my mind it is bloody ludicrous. It would assume that schools had armies of willing parents who were already dbs checked for just such occasions, unless we don't care who turns up to have unsupervised time with our children. It would assume that either all of these people had previous experience dealing with large numbers of children or that children don't really need any supervision. That's before you get onto children with medical or special needs who would need to have their private information explained to the mums and dads coming in to cover for the striking staff in order to keep them safe and supported.

Then there would be children like my ds who would probably take a swing at any untrained adult, who wouldn't have the first clue about his needs, who tried to get him to comply with their demands.

Oh the fun that there would be.

Good news it's off

Hurrah!