Teacher strikes and work plans

[Yellowcoffeecup]

Not sure who to be pissed off with teachers or work colleagues.

Big face to face team meeting next Wednesday. Whole morning.

Been in diary for couple of months.

Due to teachers strike colleagues now saying they can't make the meeting. They're saying they can't join on line either because of distraction by their children.

Fine - take a days annual leave or make alternative arrangements for your children.

Not a meeting to easily rearrange.

AIBU to be pissed with teachers ?
AIBU to be pissed with colleagues ?
AIBU all round ?

Are you the manager or a colleague / peer?

have you formally suggested the leave option to the colleagues affected?

You could support your colleagues with their childcare difficulties by being supportive and flexible.

Bit difficult to be flexible with a meeting that was planned months in advance.

Just very frustrating.

Erm OP a strike 🪧 by its nature is that no work is done 🤷‍♀️ as it's designed to cause interruption and disruption which would include meetings scheduled for that date......

THE GOVERNMENT!

Probably an easy excuse to dump a waste of time all morning team meeting that nobody wanted in first place

Yep it’s the government you should be pissed off with for sure.

True 🤣

Rearrange the meeting. If it’s been in the diary for months I doubt it is urgent.

We're not in a school but the disruption caused gives me no sympathy for teachers.

Be pissed off with the government. It is not your colleagues fault. It is not the teachers fault.

Try having a bit of empathy for your colleagues & the teachers & people in life generally

I agree with PPs, blame the government!

It does sound like a meeting that could be rearranged. But equally, if they’re too distracted by kids for there to be a meeting, perhaps they should be taking the day off?

@Yellowcoffeecup not a teacher either but our work was impacted by the strike today as part of our delivery is in schools which is scheduled out at the start of the school year. Agree it's frustrating but not the end of the world 🌍

Agree with others though, you could be a bit more understanding of your colleagues who were directly impacted but I can see your point of view too, the strike 🪧 dates have been released well in advance!

You’re a grown adult - you know these things happen in life. Being frustrated is pointless. Being booked months in advance means this meeting isn’t urgent, plus there was no guarantee that sick leave or annual leave wouldn’t end up taken on that day. Just because a meeting is booked in, doesn’t mean it’s do or die - people do have other commitments. Channel your feelings into being productive eg when’s the next best date to rearrange it? Can the meeting be conducted with skeleton staff and a bulletin send across afterwards? There’s a solution somewhere.

Well its not your colleagues fault, they can't stop the strike. For an hour meeting I'd say they should join on zoom but for a whole morning thats not practical.

Could you record the meeting so they can at least catch up on whats discussed later ?

Nope - pissed off with teachers , colleague's and Government.

If they can't work due to children then they take a days leave !

Sorted.

You should be angry with the government for destroying Education.

Taking annual leave would still mean they miss your meeting though, so you'd need to reschedule regardless.

If they can't work due to children then they take a days leave !

what do you mean by “sorted”? Are you angry they get to work from home? Cause if they take leave, they still can’t attend your beloved meeting so it’s hard to see why them taking leave is a solution for you.

You sound like a delightful person.

I'm facing a similar issue in that my work are being just as awkward as you about moving a meeting around to accomodate the unexpected change in circumstances of us parents who can't work when a long meeting is planned.

I can complete other work during that time so shall not be taking annual leave as I'll need that for the school holidays.

Stop being awkward and move the meeting, it doesn't matter how long it's been planned, all of the material can be used on a different date. And tbh it's probably something that can be summed up in a short email anyway so why not do everyone a favour and drop the yawnfest altogether?

We don't want your sympathy, hun. We want children to have the education they deserve. For it to be funded so that it functions.

If you've not been pissed off with the state of the entire public sector until right now then YABU. And blind.

Blame the government

Anyone not supporting the strikers is a scab

Omg OP you sound like my boss (the job I just left two days ago). Inflexible and a little bit idiotic (sorry).