Don't want to join the teaching strike

[SweetRascal]

I'm a primary school teacher of 12 years and with the NEU. For my own reasons, I don't want to vote yes to striking but will this be judged negatively by other teachers? I just don't feel comfortable with the disruption it causes.

I should have the freedom and right to be a teacher, to not be in a striking union and to stand by my own values and beliefs.

You do. You just did. No idea why you're acting like a freedom fighter in stopping paying your subs. What do you want, a round of applause?

Jeez.

Watch out for Jo Grady from UCU (admittedly FE and HE)

She's very outspoken and a fantastic spokeswoman for education

I should have the freedom and right to be a teacher, to not be in a striking union and to stand by my own values and beliefs. If trachers can't do this then teaching unions would become more like dictatorships

Well, you have neither the freedom nor the right to be a teacher as there are rules about the job. No-one can make you be in a union of any kind. No-one can make you strike.

Not sure what's going on here, a charitable view is you are feeling embattled by being told so many about the disesteem scabs are held in by others.
A less kind view has me wondering how someone with such piss-poor basic knowledge of how unions work is doing being a teacher.

🤣 You do! You always have. You were a bit naive to join the NEU in the first place tbh.

Perhaps they gave her a free diary or something when they recruited her.

No she won’t.

I got a nice clipboard.

I switched to the NEU during that last January lockdown when the schools opened for one day as I didn’t feel my union ( NASUWT) were doing enough. It’s the first time I feel I really took a stand as numbers in our area were huge! It was scary but the NEU were proved right, three of my colleagues contracted covid that day and one ended up in hospital.

In truth, conditions at my school are good, we have a good headteacher who has staff wellbeing at the forefront. I feel I am paid well but I am further up the pay scale. I don’t agree that pay rises are unfunded as budgets are stretched as it is.

Sometimes you have to see the bigger picture and stand together for change.

Why are you covering it? Don’t cover striking staff. Outrageous. You can’t be asked to and shouldn’t do it. I’m a supply teacher and won’t be doing that.
no, they won’t leave work. Do you understand what a strike is?

@SequinsandStilettos absolutely do not cover it. It totally defeats the point! Have you not heard of crossing the picket line? Are you a unison member? If not, become one and they’ll give advice, I’m sure, to help you say no to covering.

I’m supply. I got the ballot. If you are a member of the union, you got the ballot paper and should abide by the result.

So now it's other Teachers bashing Teachers? Not a good look really. Given there's many things that make Teaching more difficult than it should be (unlike being a Teaching Union Rep), the Govt isn't always the culprit.

There's SLT (not always the best qualified, just greasy pole climbers really), student behaviour, parents and the unnecessary paperwork (blame on Govt for this).

So a job with pretty good T&Cs becomes untenable, particularly for the best and most experienced teachers and doesn't seem so good then.

Striking is a bit passe now - better think of something different to get the public's positive attention as we're 'strike weary' and hardly listening now. Maybe create your own lessons for students to come up with a new ideas; that's the holy grail of teaching after all - when your students come up with something totally new.

It's your democratic choice not to join a strike.

It's also a shit thing to do, letting others do the hard work while you sit back and take the pay rise they achieve for you. It's called being a scab.

Same OP. I won’t be striking. Ignore those on here who won’t allow others to think differently to themselves. More in common with the far right then they realise.

And for what it’s worth- no issue with anyone who makes the decision to strike. Just don’t try and dictate my decisions to me.

"Won't allow"? No one can stop those undermining strike action from thinking and doing whatever they please.

You can do whatever you like. By the same token those who do think, feel and act differently to you are entitled to hold your decision and behaviour in utter contempt.

Just don’t try and dictate my decisions to me.

Unions are about the power of joint action so if you don’t believe in taking joint action, a union is probably not for you.

Same OP. I won’t be striking. Ignore those on here who won’t allow others to think differently to themselves. More in common with the far right then they realise

Yeah unions, bastions of the Far Right.

Join one that doesn’t strike if you want to think oh so individually.

Why bother being in a union if you don’t support them.Bet you’d be after them for support if you needed something.

Direct from the NASUWT

As a supply teacher, it will depend on the way you are employed and the nature of your contract as to whether or not you are eligible to be balloted and take part in any industrial action. If you are employed directly by a school or through a local authority pooled supply arrangement, then you would be eligible to participate in the ballot.
However, if a supply teacher is not employed directly by a school or local authority under a contract of employment, but assigned to a school on a long term assignment through an employment agency/umbrella company, we cannot ballot the supply teacher, as we are not in dispute with the employment agency/umbrella company.
So if you are employed through a supply agency and/or umbrella company, then you will not be able to take part in industrial action, and, as such, you should not vote in the ballot.

Any supply I do is from an agency so no, I didn't get a ballot paper.

My Learning Supervisor role is considered Support Staff so we already had our pay rise. NASUWT still need to confirm whether I need to be Unison member too. As I am on the Support Staff scale and not on the high end either, it might well be that I have to cross any picket so as to not be sanctioned by Universal Credit. Not sure where I stand there.
I would love to be paid what I am worth fwiw but as you all know, the bottom went out of supply market decades ago, day-to-day is insecure and can be soul-destroying, no LEA pools so you are pimped by agencies and if unable to do full-time (I have caring responsibilities) cover supervision is the pill you have to swallow. Teachers bashing other teachers is not a good look, no - but any Cover supervisor or supply dubbed a "substitute" will tell you that sadly, it is par for the course. Too often, we are all tarred with the same brush.

Good luck to you all . My colleagues work tirelessly so deserve any extra penny they get. Support staff being massively undervalued and unappreciated is a different thread but no surprise that many are finding they are better off doing other jobs paid by the hour.

Don't be ridiculous. No one is trying to stop the op from thinking differently, or making her own choice about whether to strike.

The op was about being worried colleagues would think badly of her choice, so people are pointing out that they will, because it is a selfish choice.

We can all choose how we act. We can't choose for other people to like it.

I agree about the phone calls! We’re intelligent adults and can make our own choices.

So many people commenting on here are so high on their idea of what is right that they come across bitter and nasty. It is absolutely no one’s business what another adult chooses to do. We would never teach children to act in the way this thread has!

Both my husband and I are members of NEU and are not striking. We can’t afford to for reasons that are important, but private. We do feel guilt for not striking but every person we have spoken to in the real world has been wonderful and supportive. Honestly, if any colleagues think less of me, I think it says more about them. What right does anyone have to pressure another to strike or belittle their motives?

The reality is at least 50% of members didn’t vote for this strike. If those 50% join edapt instead because they feel bullied out of the union then NEU will be in trouble.

I like to think if we’re paying our subscriptions at least we are showing support to our union in whatever way we can.

So why do you feel guilt about not striking then, if it's absolutely the right decision for you? It's because you know you are letting your colleagues down and weakening the bargaining position of your union, I suppose.

So why are you continuing as members of the NEU if you are refusing to follow the result of the vote? Perhaps Edapt would be more appropriate for you if strike action isn't something you are prepared to engage with?