Anyone know results of teachers strike?

[Violashift]

The ballot closed yesterday but has anyone heard the results?

I really hope NEU get the numbers. This is just as much about conditions as it is pay.

Totally

This is of course why the government insist on postal ballots for strikes but not their leadership contests.
I sent mine in but who knows if it got there. There does seem to be some organisational issues. I won't be switching to NEU as I disagree with their current leadership on several issues.

It's not apathy from teachers it's realism. They want more money - where is this money going to come from? The school budget. School budgets already don't cover everything they need and many schools are looking at going into a deficit budget. The government didn't cover the recent increase in teacher's pay, why will they cover any further increases?

Those that didn't vote got their voice heard by not voting as they clearly didn't agree with the strike. I don't think anyone can accuse teachers of apathy. If they were not interested in the profession they wouldn't have the mental strength to cope with it.

I think there seem to be enough reports of teachers having problems getting the ballot to think perhaps something went awry in the administration.

In fairness, I do think a lot of teachers join a Union when training and don’t think about it beyond that. Most schools don’t have a union rep. Our school claims it doesn’t recognise unions: no idea if they can even do that, I suspect not, but as with most things relating to HTs, what can you do?

I do think if you don’t agree with the actions of a union then you shouldn’t join that union but then I it comes up on here and you say you’re not a member of a union some of the same posters on here berating spineless teachers will tell you how stupid you are!

NEU announce Monday so that will be interesting.

6/10, must try harder. 😁

@Yellowgreenpurple - I hear there's quite a bit of regional variation with NEU. So we'll see.

Younger teachers in my school didn’t vote - they seem content with their pay and conditions most likely as that is what is their “norm”.

Teachers like me (23 years plus) have all voted to strike but I think we’re few and far between. I’m one of the oldest staff members at school in my 40s. I was a child in high school and one end of primary. I want to strike for them as well as me.

*have (not was)

I think they needed to make the strike action more about conditions. In the 20 years I've been teaching, I only ever remember them balloting over pay - never conditions, SATS, the curriculum being unfit for purpose, Ofsted etc. I have always voted 'no' until this recent ballot as I've always been happy enough with the pay - but this time I'm just so pissed off with everything that I voted yes regardless. If the slant was taken that better conditions for teachers leads to improved outcomes for kids, I think they would get a lot more people voting 'yes'.

It may also be a factor that the profession is getting younger as experienced teachers leave, and younger teachers are less jaded and still so full of enthusiasm for the job that they haven't reached breaking point yet. Maybe younger people also have less understanding of what unions do and the importance of industrial action.

Pay in teaching is also quite good if you're at the bottom of MPS. When you hit the top of UPS and can't go any further - especially in primary where there are no lead practitioner roles and they only give the lowest TLR 2 - that it really sucks.

Shame on those who didn't vote. Shame on them. Fingers crossed NEU is a different story.

In the 20 years I've been teaching, I only ever remember them balloting over pay - never conditions, SATS, the curriculum being unfit for purpose, Ofsted etc.

We're not allowed to strike about SATs, the curriculum or Ofsted.

As I said on another thread (though the ends of my posts keep cutting off), I returned my ballot paper straight away, but kept getting messages through to return it weeks later.

The post box I put it into was full of post due to the strikes and I do worry that it is still sitting in a sorting station somewhere.

I wish that there had been an alternative way to register my vote.

If so many people didn't receive ballot papers, I wouldn't have many people returned them for them not to be received at the other end also!
I do hope that they'll realise something went wrong with this one and try again. It just doesn't feel right at all.

I wonder if*

Many younger teachers are not in a union, which is a bit unsettling when they might need legal help at any time in their career.
My school says it is up to us if we strike, but the children in our class only won't be able to come to school as 'Mrs Sixtiesbaby is on strike'

I'm disappointed but not surprised. there are so many younger, ultra ambitious teachers in the profession now who will do anything not to rock the boat. Give them another few years when they are also worn out and overworked, their good will utterly abused, and then they will either quit or realise that THEY are the union.

What message does this send to the government? that teachers are happy with the status quo. I stand with the nurses, the postal workers, the train drivers, the ambulance drivers - all of whom have been brave enough to say enough.

I am so glad to be out of teaching now. I am utterly sick and tired of teachers who join a union just for the legal protection but then expect union support at the drop of a hat when things go tits up for them (often as a result of their own stupidity). Unions are strong when their membership support them. If members cannot be bothered to even attend a school meeting or vote in a ballot then they get what they deserve I'm afraid.

Okay, but we're allowed to strike over conditions - and those things are a big part of what makes conditions so appalling. The unions needs to change the language they are using so that they convey that terrible conditions for teachers make schools a crummy place to be for the children.

So what are we actually supposed to do when we fundamentally disagree with things like SATS and the curriculum because they are bad for the students if we can't strike? Just leave teaching I guess?????

Yes, leave teaching. That’s what teachers have been doing since the strikes failed in 2011 against Gove. That was technically about pay and pensions but generally driven by his rushed curriculum reforms.

Didn’t this happen with paramedics first time around? And then they balloted again and got overwhelming support?

I wonder if the union’s organise a second ballot now they’d get a different result.

i’m one of the angry menopausal ones who has left so no strike for me 😞

What was the alternative to receiving and returning a ballot via post? Could teachers also do this in person somewhere?

No, it’s a postal ballot, government mandated to make it more difficult to get people to vote.

I'm fairly certain the NEU will meet the threshold. They announce on Monday, as do NAHT.

Civica run the ballots, not the union so they are responsible for sending replacement ballots etc. The NEU extended their ballot deadline due to postal strike.

If you have returned your ballot by post, there is usually a way of informing your union that via text or email. They don't actually get told who's have been received by Civica, but most ask members to tell them so they can have an idea of where they are in terms of threshold.

Oh that's bloody unfair!!