NEU tells teachers not to go to work on Monday

[Workyticket]

skwawkbox.org/2021/01/02/breaking-union-tells-teachers-not-to-go-to-work-on-monday/

@Kjc39

Schools are no more unsafe then supermarkets. It’s a good job that supermarket staff didn’t refuse to work. Absolutely ridiculous!! Covid has become a rampant madness that’s stopping people having common sense!

I didn't realise supermarket staff spent 6 hours a day in a badly ventilated room with the same 30 kids with little space to socially distance.

If schools remain open as long as possible and close chaotically, there will be no provision for the children of the other keyworkers.

The new variant means this is no longer about children and teacher safety, this is about maintaining a functioning society.

Tbh I had a big issue with GP working online.

I am really angry with the parts of the NHS that have been shut since march. Also those parts that haven't discovered you can zoom instead of making a phone call.

GOOD. We're up the creek for a while financially because of COVID, but still totally support schools going online. I have a teacher relative lying ill in hospital having now infected her whole family....it's NOT safe.

Look at the new stats today. I'm all for academia, but there's no point in risking lives. I refuse to consent to lateral flow tests before return to school (we've been shielding so unnecessary) and have specifically informed the school that if DC are in contact with a positive child I will be taking them out for an isolation period an a proper test to help support the teachers who are currently being treated like cannon fodder.
This is a 'shit hitting the fan scenario' and teachers deserve our support.

I've never, ever been so cross with a government.

My job involves being in close proximity to customers who are not wearing masks and around colleagues for hours on end, it's not a job where you can realistically keep your distance all the time. It's nowhere near as important as teaching but surely my life is as important? I'm not personally overly worried but there seems to be no concern whatsoever for staff in other industries.

@Beebityboo

I'm getting increasingly concerned about the lack of response. Surely they have to do or say something or it will staff not going in and parents keeping their kids at home?

I expect they're now taking their time to avoid further embarrassment. After all their quick fire tweet earlier didn't do them any favours.

I didn't realise supermarket staff spent 6 hours a day in a badly ventilated room with the same 30 kids with little space to socially distance.

There are professions which have been bad for catching covid such as meat packing. It's really important not to claim that teachers are catching covid more than any other profession unless you have facts to support it.

@AaronPurr

There are people who worked throughout 2021

Well it's only been 2 days...

If supermarket workers wanted to take industrial action over unsafe working conditions (and I reckon they might have a point), I would support them wholeheartedly.

"Other people have it the same/worse" is not a valid argument. It's not a race to the bottom.

It's also clear that schools are driving transmission in a way that other organisations aren't, though.

[quote TheSunIsStillShining]@BungleandGeorge
their private employers did this BECAUSE THEY LEGALLY HAVE TO!

Not because they are nice guys.[/quote]
I disagree many of the measures are in excess of what would be required, considering hospital workers work with covid patients in a paper mask and pinny. They did it because it’s very expensive to your business to have your staff off sick and investing in a plastic screen or visiting outside doesn’t reduce productivity but reduces sickness absence.

@Noellodee

If schools remain open as long as possible and close chaotically, there will be no provision for the children of the other keyworkers.

The new variant means this is no longer about children and teacher safety, this is about maintaining a functioning society.

Yes, quite.

Provision of places for keyworkers, vulnerable children etc relies on enough staff being well enough to be on site and not having to socially isolate.

Provision of online learning relies on enough staff being well enough to work.

Schools were closing due to staff shortages in December. Since then rates have risen.

What honestly do people predict will happen should schools go back with the same lack of mitigation measure as previously?

It's gone beyond mitigation measures now. There need to be closures and for the rates to fall so that mitigation measures might have a chance of actually making a difference when school sites are able to open again.

But the thing that is going to kill more of us is that the country is bankrupt. If we also haven't educated the next generation then it's all over for the UK.

@Thunderpunt

I guess the question is exactly at what point will teachers deem it safe to work? Quantify it? Back in the summer it wasn't safe, so ok we will have bubbles. Still not safe, ok masks can be worn in communal areas Still not safe, track and trace all positive cases and their contacts, isolate them. Still not safe, introduce rapid testing in secondary schools

Lo and behold....still not safe

It just feels like until the entire population is vaccinated, teachers are working in full hazmat suits from with a perplex box teaching groups of no more than 5 students at at least 2 meters distance.... it won't be enough.

I'd like to know what is deemed safe to open?

I’m not a teacher but I think standards will be deemed acceptable for teachers when they receive the same levels of safeguarding as other occupations. Also look at the list of safety precautions you have written about on your post. Not even one was done properly or even a half decent attempt at protected teacher’s health. Example the so called bubbles? Of 60 odd students and many staff. All who mix with their own households. How is it justified to get the rest of the U.K’s population to limit their person to person mixing to stay safe and at the same time ask teachers to expose themselves to hundreds? As for the tests, we all know how inaccurate they are. And what good are masks in areas where staff spend a few minutes. Shouldn’t they have masks in the areas where they spend the vast majority of their time? In the classrooms as they teach and this will only work if students wear them too. I think it’s all gone so badly wrong as not one of these safety strategies were decent or effective ones. So now it’s time to do it all correctly.

I disagree many of the measures are in excess of what would be required, considering hospital workers work with covid patients in a paper mask and pinny
I wonder if teachers would support NHS doctors and nurses walking out any time since March. The rate of NHS staff contracting/dying of Covid must be much much higher than that of school staff.

What honestly do people predict will happen should schools go back with the same lack of mitigation measure as previously?

Well, attendance at Kent secondary schools the second to last week of term was 55%, so I'd predict rapid spread of covid, and more pupils at home isolating.

The government has suppressed the attendance figures for the last week of term. I guess they look bad.

But I thought education beyond reading and writing was all just a money making scam?

Is the walkout against school as normal or is it for any school at all?

Ie if government did the same as London provision which is KW etc only would the walk out still go ahead?

@finisterreforever

What about all the single parent families that work full time? Should they just give their jobs up, lose their homes, go food banks?

What about the single parent families where the parent works in schools? Should they risk their child being orphaned?

Why are most teachers over 80 or clinically vulnerable? If they are then yes they should be given a sick note.

You didn’t answer my question though? What about the single parents that work away from home? Should they just give work up so you can have your six weeks off? Who is going to pay their mortgage/rent/ food/ gas and electric or should they just go on benefits?

@notevenat20

I didn't realise supermarket staff spent 6 hours a day in a badly ventilated room with the same 30 kids with little space to socially distance.

There are professions which have been bad for catching covid such as meat packing. It's really important not to claim that teachers are catching covid more than any other profession unless you have facts to support it.

If that is an unsafe working environment then I'd wholly support meat packers being given better protection etc.

I'm not saying that teachers are catching it more or less then other industries but I am saying that they deserve a safe working environment which schools aren't.

The school I was working in before Christmas had 10 members of staff out ill at the end of term (this was a large secondary school) all covid related. There was also 4 out of 7 year groups out due to high numbers of covid and bubbles bursting etc. Obviously, this is anecdotal but this is what I witnessed and I know other schools in my area were in similar situations.

The rate of NHS staff contracting/dying of Covid must be much much higher than that of school staff.

Thing is, we don't know. The repeated FOI requests to the government for this data have been rejected. The government don't want you to know how many staff have died.

They fudged the data about how many teaching staff have been infected. About the same rate as NHS workers or higher. It's not clear.

It isn't a competition between school staff and shop workers.

In both cases they often have the short straw when it comes to covid safe. Whatever that means

@MarshaBradyo

Is the walkout against school as normal or is it for any school at all?

Ie if government did the same as London provision which is KW etc only would the walk out still go ahead?

The unions proposal is that all primaries cater only for KW and V children along the same lines as London. Their places then are protected, as if schools restart then have to close bubbles or whole schools due to infection, there will be no KW /V provision, which would be disastrous for the regions already affected by healthcare staff shortages.

@notevenat20

But the thing that is going to kill more of us is that the country is bankrupt. If we also haven't educated the next generation then it's all over for the UK.

No one will bother looking that far ahead.

As parents we are powerless.

Just wanted to say I don't think that's quite true - we can keep our children home from school, we can be vocal about supporting teachers, we can get in touch with our MPs, etc.

@Noellodee

If schools remain open as long as possible and close chaotically, there will be no provision for the children of the other keyworkers.

The new variant means this is no longer about children and teacher safety, this is about maintaining a functioning society.

Yep totally this