How many teachers will be handing in the section 44 letter tomorrow and not going in?

[SoscaredforJan]

My DSis is scared to go to work tomorrow in a private primary school in Tier 3 but lowish numbers. She is not ECV but has got chemo damaged lungs so it petrified of catching Covid.

She desperately wants to follow union advice and not go in tomorrow but she’s worried that most teachers will be in as normal, she will have a black Mark against her and will be quietly pushed out.

Are there many teachers on here planning not to go in tomorrow? What do you think will happen tomorrow?

Surely the point of being in a union is safety in numbers.
If all of you send the letter, the management cant bully all of you.
Everyone who doesnt follow union advice is making it harder for those that do.
What is the point of being in a union if you dont follow the advice and use it to protect your rights and your colleagues rights?

Battered Hake

And how about the 86 year old, 62 year old and 57 year old she lives with? Collateral damage?

The community spread to parents and Grandparents won't be pretty.

This is an opportunity to stand up for diminishing rights. Tory gov would like a future non-unionised "professional"compliant workforce that accepts abusive practice and pays lower and lower wages.

It's a hard choice though, when put on individuals, who will have to face bullying SLTs and Heads. And of course the ire of the right wing press.

I hope parents and wider society support teachers in this and stop demonising them, as they have so little power, but can lose such a lot by trying to do the right thing.

I can totally understand that, mumneedswine

Are TAs in the same unions as teachers?
Support staff are represented by NEA, and presumably the others and are being encouraged submit the letter.

If my school was open, I certainly wouldn't support strike action.
It's not actually industrial action; the letter reiterates that staff are willing to continue to work, just not on-site but wfh instead.

I’m not a teacher but a ta and unison have advised we don’t go in. I am though as I can’t afford to lose any pay as I only earn 12k a year as it is and my children need to eat.

The two teachers I have talked to, will be going in. I am not sure how much different it makes but both work in special needs schools (sorry if its not called that now) also neither school has had any isolations

@manicinsomniac

An awful lot of teachers have left the NEU over the Covid stance. They're just too militant and don't speak for the majority of their members.

My school is closed despite being in a tier 4, non closure area because the head thinks it's too risky. I am not in support of this but obviously have no choice. If my school was open, I certainly wouldn't support strike action. But I'm in NASUWT who aren't, I don't think, recommending that teachers not go in without headteacher support.

In a private school, I'd be very wary. Unions and striking don't go down well, generally.

You're showing your ignorance, here. This is NOT a strike, but a section 44 on Health and Safety grounds.

Numbers in the NEU have rocketed! And there were over 100,000 attending/viewing the webinar this morning.

Already happening at some schools

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/four-midlands-schools-announce-closure-19555187

Parents need to stand shoulder to shoulder with teachers on this.

They have the right to work in a safe environment and your children have the right to learn in one.
I work in a supermarket and feel a lot safer working there wearing a mask and most of the customers wearing a mask than I would in a classroom with 30 children all unmasked.
The idea that London schools are less safe than schools in other areas is obscene.
And if you think the Government care about you or your children you have not been paying attention.

@theviewfromhalfwaydown

I’m not a teacher but a ta and unison have advised we don’t go in. I am though as I can’t afford to lose any pay as I only earn 12k a year as it is and my children need to eat.

Section 44 doesn't mean loss of pay.

My daughter will definitely go in.

This is a Government decision. They have screwed it up. The country will reap the results.

@theviewfromhalfwaydown you don’t lose pay for invoking section 44. It isn’t a refusal to work. It is a refusal to work in an unsafe environment- you should be available to complete duties remotely from home during your usual contracted hours. That could be making resources, completing paperwork for students with IEPs or making support calls
To any students working remotely at home too.

@EYProvider

I own a nursery and I’m so relieved that the unions have no influence over early years workers.

What an absolute disgrace this whole Section 44 threat is. If everyone walked out of work because of Section 44 - doctors, nurses, shop workers, electricity supply workers, the list is endless - the whole country would come to a stop and then we would really know what a public health crisis was.

This is really dangerous trouble making, but quite honestly, it’s just what you’d expect from the nasty, vitriolic teaching unions.

I hope every teacher who does this gets sacked.

My nursery will be open and it will stay open, and thank God, the unions haven’t got their claws into my staff. They actually want to work.

Just out of interest - what safety precautions have you put in place for your charges and employees? As owner it will be your liability surely?

Two of them do have underlying health conditions.

I’m a pregnant teacher and won’t be in but this was already agreed before Christmas (because it’s not safe...). I am not in the NEU and the union I am in has told members not to refuse to attend work without individual union advice so I wouldn’t be supported in sending the section 44 letter. Most of my colleagues are also not in NEU and I don’t think many of the TAs are in a union at all. I agree that it’s important to stand up for our right to a safe working environment and I’m disappointed that the NASUWT has been extremely weak throughout the whole pandemic. They were zero support to me as a pregnant teacher and I had to fight alone for my health and that of my unborn child. I will not be remaining in this union. I am fearful for my lovely colleagues (and their families) who remain in school as well as our pupils and their families and the wider community. Johnson and co have blood on their hands already and they’re quite content to add to that.

All unions seem to be on one page.
I am absolutely abhorred by political militant stance, I prefer the middle road.

However listening to the today's briefing it was solely about the science and health.

Section 44 is a Right we have as citizens of the UK. Head teachers have been advised to take legal advice before making decisions and they have been told by their union that they cannot dispute a section 44 which makes sense to me.

How can a teacher give assurances on legal and disease, hygiene scales about someone's very likely hood of surviving covid!

That's a huge responsibility for any head to give and they are not qualified to give it.

@BatteredHake dear god, that old chestnut. What counts as an 'underlying condition' ? Have you checked ?
One has mild asthma, hardly used her inhaler and could run 26.2 miles. But counts as having an underlying condition.
Other had an allergy to peanuts so carried an epipen, but hadn't used it in over 10 years. But hey, underlying condition do yup at 48 he would have died anyway.
I am angry.

I regard it as government mandated manslaughter.

I haven't heard anything from other colleagues yet but I'd say all staff will be in. The letter from NEU seems a bit half-hearted still. My union is NASUWT though and their response is definitely not enough for me not to go in.
I'd rather be in school as I'm healthy and low-risk but I work in a tier 4 area and the new covid strain is very worrying. My colleague ended up ICU last term and has long covid. My SLT are supportive and well-liked - I doubt any teachers at my school will be off tomorrow.

It would be better if the government acknowledged and gave us something - PPE for staff, rotas, anything to show us they're concerned about working conditions for teachers and children. Also anything to show that schools are being affected and to keep schools going for as long as possible for the Easter term - to be more proactive rather than reactive. It's not all or nothing - I'm sure there must be some preventative measures that could be put in place for primaries. In two weeks time it'll be too late - teacher shortages due to illness/isolating.

I’m a TA not in a union and will be going in unless I’m told not to. I worked throughout the last lock down so expect to work even if we do close. We had over 100 vulnerable and key worker children in school on a daily basis till June - these children need looking after.

Pavlova Are you sure? The email I had from NASUWT yesterday said they want the govt to close the schools but, unless that happens, they do not recommend that teachers not attend work unless supported by their heads. Which many heads will. But many won't and NASUWT wasn't promising to be able to help in those schools.