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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think the only way forward now for school staff is to strike in Jan

595 replies

OverTheRainbow88 · 17/12/2020 07:19

Sadly, I believe, the only way forward now for school staff in to strike in Jan.

Schools are unsafe, understaffed and not ‘covid secure’. This will get much worse in Jan when people are allowed to meet inside in a 3 household bubble and travel freely around ( in England at least).

OP posts:

nosswith · 17/12/2020 07:23

That would be a gift to the Education Secretary and the government unfortunately, and enable them to shift blame and attention from their failings (aka mass killers) to someone else, accuse Labour of supporting unreasonable actions etc.

AaronPurr · 17/12/2020 07:27

I think a strike would just be a gift to the Government. As it would help shift the blame from their actions or inaction, and instead provide another reason to blame teachers / school staff for the shit show that is the current education system.

Oeliilio · 17/12/2020 07:29

The problem is not everyone thinks the same. Some people need to work, some people value so highly the chance to be educated and get out.
Not all staff want to.

KarlKennedysDurianFruit · 17/12/2020 07:34

I live right near a large hospital which is the designated Covid hospital, how will all of those doctors and nurses go to work when their children aren't at school?

TonberryDreams · 17/12/2020 07:36

Unsafe, unstaffed and not covid secure applies to SO many industries right now, including some food production, some food retail, and some healthcare environments (I mention those three as they are the ones I know for sure from family experience). Should supermarket staff strike? Perhaps prison nurses? Hospital staff? If you think the pressure on NHS staff is bad now, try closing the schools again and then wonder why essential treatments start getting cancelled again. Sorry if that sounds blunt.

Hippywannabe · 17/12/2020 07:39

I have been a TA for over 20 years, my role has changed from hearing readers and doing menial tasks to covering classes during that time. I am responsible for anything from changing a stoma bag to injecting insulin.
All of that has been fine, I would want someone who cares to do it for my child if needed.
I just want to feel safe in my school, we have worked so hard since March (and yes, we all volunteered to work over Easter holidays too).
I am so worried about January now. The idea of being responsible for potentially swabbing 30 children daily is frightening. Who will take the fall if one of them is accidentally hurt?
Some parents are not maintaining the rules now so I dread to think what will happen over the holidays.
I don't want to strike, I just want to be safe at school.

BlusteryLake · 17/12/2020 07:40

Oh give over. If the staff strike there wouldn't even be online school. Yet more disruption for our children.

Frazzled2207 · 17/12/2020 07:40

I think the schools and teachers have been treated absolutely appallingly and have every right to be livid. But striking would only help the government.

Many many schools are on their knees and something needs to be done, not sure what though. But quite a few are managing just fine.

trixiebelden77 · 17/12/2020 07:41

What has been the infection rate for teachers?

I can find some info on schoolchildren but not teachers.

Presumably it’s high?

Original poster

OverTheRainbow88 · 17/12/2020 07:43

Should supermarket staff strike? Perhaps prison nurses? Hospital staff?

Yes, maybe the should. It might make the Government wake up to the horrors of what is occurring and how much worse Jan will be . It has gone from Save the NHS to save bloody Christmas with the in-laws.

OP posts:

AaronPurr · 17/12/2020 07:44

Some parents are not maintaining the rules now so I dread to think what will happen over the holidays.

This is my biggest worry about returning to school in January. The current rules are clear and yet still we have sleepovers, children sent in while waiting for reults and sent in with symptoms, but it's ok because the parent / carer knows it's not Covid, even without a test.

January terrifies me, because I know it will be so much worse than what we're experiencing now.

Original poster

OverTheRainbow88 · 17/12/2020 07:46

January terrifies me, because I know it will be so much worse than what we're experiencing now.

This is why I think maybe strike action in Jan, If the Government allows mixing, something has to give, and that in my opinion is a week of education.

OP posts:

SomewhereEast · 17/12/2020 07:46

Fire ahead...but before you frame this as Teachers v Evil Tories, bear in mind that Scotland (SNP) and Wales (Lab) have kept schools open too and Starmer has also made it clear he isn't going to row in behind you. In fact I'm not sure there's a single political party who would...maybe the Greens, which isn't exactly much use?

SetPhasersTaeMalkie · 17/12/2020 07:47

I'm worried about January but I wouldn't strike. Definitely not.

Original poster

OverTheRainbow88 · 17/12/2020 07:47

Scotland (SNP) and Wales (Lab) have kept schools open too

Yes, they have chosen education over Christmas mingling

OP posts:

MadameMinimes · 17/12/2020 07:49

Trixie- they haven’t released it yet. I think that data is coming out today or tomorrow. That is very convenient, just in time for two weeks where it will seem irrelevant. In my school about 10% of teaching staff have now had a confirmed case of Covid. In some local primaries it’s been over half. At half term 0% of our teaching staff had had a confirmed case, although a couple of support staff had it in the first wave. There’s been a significant worsening of the situation in recent weeks here. I’m in a Greater London borough.

FrangipaniBlue · 17/12/2020 07:49

SOME Schools are unsafe, understaffed and not ‘covid secure’.

There, corrected that for you.

You're being ridiculous.

MrsMomoa · 17/12/2020 07:50

That was the government's first mistake, giving people the false impression that they're safe.
There's no such thing as Covid safe with something so highly contagious.
Sanitise your hands, wear a mask, lockdown and you'll be safe.
What happens when the lockdown ends??
Up go the numbers again.
People who religiously sanitise their hands and wear a mask are still catching it.
Covid isn't going to disappear.
We're never going to be truly Covid safe.
We just need to get on with our lives and take our chances, cos none of us are getting out of here alive!

SomewhereEast · 17/12/2020 07:51

@OverTheRainbow88

Scotland (SNP) and Wales (Lab) have kept schools open too

Yes, they have chosen education over Christmas mingling

No they haven't. They have generated some pointless noise to distinguish themselves from Boris, which will make no difference to how their populations behave. And Wales's whole Covid policy is a car crash, with the worst rates of any UK nation, because Drakeford was mad enough to think a fortnight might achieve something, so I really wouldn't hold them up as an example of protecting schools.

Oeliilio · 17/12/2020 07:51

We’re a teaching family. We had it early on. We’ve relaxed and are happy to help families. What we see is lost jobs, financial panic around us, kids struggling to get food. There’s not such as overriding fear of the virus than in all good conscience we want to put the boot in to families already on the edge by taking away school so more jobs are lost or precarious or zero hours contracts not worked. It’s now definitely at the point that more families are expressing how they are struggling, than those who are secure and want to stay at home. This week so many families have thanked us for not closing, whether it be for jobs or because their children were in tears about more time alone.
I’d fully support however the suspension of fining parents in this period.

Margeryprongs · 17/12/2020 07:51

This is absolutely ridiculous. Of course teachers shouldn't strike.

HikeForward · 17/12/2020 07:52

Please don’t do that. Half the NHS workforce will have to stay home (mid pandemic when they’re most needed!!) ICU will be under-staffed, patient care compromised, supermarkets and delivery services will fold as so many parents will be unable to work.

Please please think through the consequences of a strike before you do it!

MadameMinimes · 17/12/2020 07:52

I definitely think teachers should refuse to swab kids and the unions should support them in that. A strike at this stage would be counterproductive though. It would hand a huge PR win to a government that use Trump-style disinformation, exaggeration and social media rabble-rousing. Striking now would play right into their hands.

noelgiraffe · 17/12/2020 07:52

Scottish teachers in some areas of Scotland have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action against their employer for an unsafe working environment. Glasgow had a massive turnout on the ballot.

Pikachubaby · 17/12/2020 07:53

DS 6th form college have already decided that the first 2 weeks of Jan will be online. Same schedule and lessons as normal, just online

Pragmatic and workable and non-emotional, I really respect them and how they’ve handled the crisis.

Sadly our education minister is neither pragmatic, nor wise, nor calm.

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