Any other Private School Teachers/Parents - Unreasonable not to strike?

[miniaturepixieonacid]

Just wondering what thoughts on the strike are from private school teachers and parents.

I teach in a boarding school. I and most of my colleagues are in NASUWT so don't have to strike but there are some NEU staff who are in a difficult position.

The association of schools I am in have said that they believe staff striking in our schools would be acting unlawfully because the argument is with the government and our school is not answerable to the government.

• The union is asking for a payrise which we wouldn't get (we are in a fairly long term pay freeze and our pay doesn't come from the govt).
• They are fighting against government created conditions and shortages which don't apply to us. We have plenty of staff and good conditions.
• We are not in the Teachers Pension Scheme because we have been priced out of it.
• We do not use supply teachers and don't have such a thing as directed hours.

So the argument is that it just isn't a comparable job to the job that state school teachers are striking over.

BUT - we have the same unions. So, according to the union, are expected to follow the mandates of the union regardless if we want to be supported by them.

The other issue is that our parents pay fees so expect to have their service provided. If it wasn't to be, we would have to refund the four days fees, I imagine.

I personally don't agree with the strikes anyway because I think they hurt the wrong people and ruin long planned and anticipated events (our big school production for one!). But I respect other people's right to do what they think is right. And I don't know what would be right in this situation. Would private school teachers be unreasonable to against the strike mandate if it's called unlawful by our own equaivalent to the government?

I can't see how private schools can strike 😲 You would need to negotiate a payrise with the school. I can't imagine the parents paying thousands for their child's education would take this very well

I work under a large MAT - there are a number of private schools amongst our number. It would be great to see those colleagues out in solidarity.

It I was a parent paying fees and the teachers went on strike, I would be unimpressed. It's not their dispute. I would expect their employer would take a very dim view as well and rightly so.

It would also be illegal since it is not their dispute.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_action

Whether or not you are in the same union is irrelevant. Its still not your dispute.
In the ambulance workers dispute not every region was effected because in some regions the threshold for strike action was not met. That meant some did strike and not others

I get that but in this case it is our region and the idea is (I thought) that all teachers in the union would take part. Teachers move fluidly between sectors, they're not separate groups of people. I didn't know if it was correct that it would actually be unlawful to strike but looks like it is which is really helpful to know. Thank you.

If you voted, it is because you haven’t updated your details and they still think you work at a state school. I suggest you update your details. Most of my colleagues in local private schools are getting a lot less than a 5% pay rise and discussions are underway about how to recruit and retain teachers in the independent sector with constantly frozen wages in order to make the fees affordable. Many schools are scared to put fees up in case they lose families. So the teachers effectively subsidise this by taking constant pay freezes. I don’t mind, as I wave off the mums in their 4x4s going off to the gym and a spot of shopping.

If the teachers at my DCs private school go on strike then I expect a refund on the days fees. I pay for them to educate my child so if they aren’t going to open, I don’t want to pay.