Teachers Strike Using children as a weapon

[Ruimon]

Teachers should not use children as a weapon for their politically motivated demands. Who pays teachers wages? Why have they got so much time to organize strikes? We have all had to forgo pay rises and reduced pensions due to the last government and the banking scandal, why should teachers be any different.

Nice try.
In short: no, taxes, unions, they're not.
Ok?

I'm getting a mental image of teachers striking Michael Gove, using children as a weapon.

You're right, they probably shouldn't do that.

I like that image though noble

Ohh, but a toddler in full-on rigid won't go into car seat body position would be quite the battering ram.

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I spent last few weeks busily preparing my arsenal. I've rolled some children into balls to shove in the cannons; I've sharpened little finger nails and toe nails and I'm ready to load the little buggers on my long bow; I've trained others how to optimise their surface area so that they can act as human shields.

After months of planning, I'm finally ready.

Let the battle begin...

Keep going guys, it's great, you are just proving the point that many parents in the country regognise. Excellent . Top of the class Not.

I wouldn't use ds as a weapon.

A human shield, quite possibly.

Ruimon If you have young children, you should be very glad that the teachers are willing to forego a day's wages in an attempt to safeguard their education in the future, before Gove gets any further in his determination to decimate everything that's good about our schools.

I could fashion a great pair of numchucks from two kids and a tie....

But personally I think what they are really doing is withholding their services because it's the only power they have to try and get fair pay, pension etc.

I have twelve weeks a year in which to plan a strike . Hth

Oooh cutting ,OP.

indeed pippity. Luckily I had ds in front of me so no harm done, eh?

Personally, I'm using the strike as an educational opportunity to teach my children about the honourable history of collective activism and the nobility of organised labour

"I could fashion a great pair of numchucks from two kids and a tie" is going on my quote list.

Devora just tell them to look at how The unions brought the country to its Knees in the 70's as a great example of the nobility of orgainised labour, and then turn the lights out as you leave the room.

1970s an excellent demonstration of the importance of a balance of power. (And yes, I was there, eating cold baked beans by candlelight.) The balance of power between the workers and the bosses is critical to keeping capitalism relatively benign (though some think that's a doomed enterprise). The Right believes this isn't necessary, as the market provides the balancing force.

i think it's pretty obvious by now that the balance of power has swung too far the other way, isn't it? And that the market is a piss-poor regulating mechanism? And that ordinary working people are getting screwed over?

So that's why I support the teachers.

Glad I made it TheDoctrine :D

I think there is a slight difference between:

a great granny teaching PE, literacy, numeracy, playtime duty, humanities, iCT, PSHE, RE; running clubs, holding parents meetings; being observed and constantly judged; dealing with behavioural needs and disabilities; attending courses; planning at weekends; marking and assessing; running 'sustained and substantial' projects (otherwise they lose out on pension); living in fear of the Ofsted call; having to be bright and enthusiastic every day...

...and a great granny sitting in front of a computer screen in the purchase ledger department for 6 hours a day, five hours a week (with a decent lunch break, and coffee and toilet breaks whenever they feel like it).

Hello ranty person. Welcome to Mumsnet

Your view is distorted by your leanings, I was there too, and I saw unions infilltrated by all spurious shades of red, men bullied into withholding their labour through mass intimidation, the teaching Unions will go the same way as every union that uses a position of power and responsibility as a vehicle for political ideology ...some workers are more equal than others, at least by going on strike it will hasten the privatization of teaching so some good will come out of it.

Umm... ruimon, not all the unions have agreed to strike.

How are they going to 'privatise teaching'? All parents would have to pay the schools to educate their children. That would be impossible for some people.

What are you going on about? No-one's intimidating me; nor any other teacher I know.

Some of what happened in the70's was not good. But lets get real. That is not what is happening here. Teachers are striking to protect their terms and conditions. That is perfectly reasonable.

Ruimon your arguments are simply barking. They aren't striking for an ideology but for their terms and conditions of employment.

There is a long and honourable history of uniting to gain and maintain decent employment terms starting with Chartism- that's how we got children out of factories and into schools in the first place.

It is in all our interests to attract the best people as teachers for our children. Part of that is making sure we offer teachers the best terms we can. As a parent I support teachers striking for better pay & conditions.

OP what is your suggestion for the teachers then?

Being a teacher is a position of responsibility I view it as a proffesion, a career, the ability for teachers to be able to turn children's education on and off like a light switch to " improve their pay and conditions " clearly in any sane society is unreasonable. As I said at the start of this thread many , many people have had to sacrifice pay rises and have cuts in pensions in order to sort the economical mess out. Why are teachers any different? Are they some exalted species that live outside the realms of reality? It,s not about the children as some posts have said its about being against government policy and protecting vested interests. I don,t know why those teachers promoting the strike can't at least be honest enough to say so.