Teachers to strike - 30 June

[meditrina]

breaking now on SKY

Overwhelming vote by 2 teachers' unions (92%)

I will be billing the national union of teachers for the day holiday I will have to take. Years ago when public sector were low paid I would of understood this action. Now they are just as well paid as the private sector and much better paid than me and others in the third sector. I fail to see why my taxes should pay for them to retire at 50 whilst the rest of us slog our guts out for a further 15 years. In the last 3 years my husband has had 2 pay cuts and a pay freeze I guess 15 weeks holiday is just not enough. Cry me a river

MrsCrewe - would that be paid holiday you're taking? You see, I don't get paid for my holidays, neither do I get to choose when to take them. I'm a teacher.

It was disabled people first Victor. But no one seemed to stand in solidarity with us.
Now its others turns and they are having a turn. Rightly so but where were the Unions when we were being shredded?
Anyone who gets or needs anything from 'the public purse' is now in danger.

Funny that, when I looked at my pension forecast last week it starts paying out when I'm 66. I enjoy my job too much to retire at 50, even if that were a possibility.

EvilTwins I doubt you don't get paid for your holidays as it is law that everyone gets a percentage of paid holidays. And no that won't be paid holiday as I had already booked all my holidays up and had used some when my daughter was ill. Regardless the public sector has no leg to stand on, you are as well paid as the private and have much better pensions than we can ever hope for. This is purely politically motivated - please don't try to tell me that Labour wouldn't have had to deal with the over stuffed public sector because we all know that is fiction. And whilst were on the standard of our public sector, it would be nice to find out why we have the some of the worst literacy results in the Western world? Daily I see people who are desperate for work but simply can't read or write great advert for our school system

Sorry Riveninside, I was referring to this week rather than in general. You're right, no-one seems to remember the proposed cuts to disabled support that caused so much outrage in the first weeks of the coalition. I hope that soon, we all come together and protest, and support the protests of others with as much vigour as we do our own.

Li,e i said, tjeres big rallies on the 30th.

Useful summary from the bbc comparing private and public sector pensions.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13775278

Two points stand out:

A private sector worker would need to contribute £298,596 to their pension pot (about £7.5k/year for 40 years) to have same pension as average teacher.

Private sector workers would need to contribute about 37% of their salary to their pension pot over their working lifetime to match the pension paid to a public sector worker on an equivalent wage.

So with teacher's currently contributing say 6% to their pension, it means that that they are getting a 30% uplift. That's effectively a huge additonal amount of salary. For example if we compare a teacher earning £25k and contributing 6% to their pension, then a private sector worker contributing 37% to their pension would need to earn over £37k to have the same post-pension salary.

typo ... that should be £33k to have the same post-pension salary.

I have no trouble in having to pay more for a pension....but to be forced to pay more to have less when I retire is wrong...not just me as a teacher but other Public sector workers too. I will lose £100,000 over 25 yrs so £4,000 a year less but paying £100 month more. I dont teach Maths but something isnt right! i ALSO THINK THAT HAVING TO WORK until I m 66-68 teaching children old enough to be my grandchildren will also be unfair to me and them! Something has to give yes but not by demonising teachers! Well it is Friday and I have the evening to spend marking GCSE papers!

Im just hoping that the pension tax credit still exists. No pension here and as a carer, and before that a sahm theres no chance to earn to save for one. Oh, and as a disabled person some tory MP would like me to work for less than minimum wage

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13800573

"Under government plans, workers - on average - would have to pay 3.2% more in annual pension contributions phased in between 2012 and 2014."

Ok, so assuming teachers earn of average £30k which judging from the TDA website is probably very conservative for an experienced teacher, this would work out at about £80 per month extra. BUT pension contributions are free of tax so the real impact would be £60ish.

Now you can't really call this a "pay cut" since it's a contribution into your pension for when you retire and is still bloody generous.

There's no talk I can see anywhere of making teachers redundant, asking for longer hours, more responsibility etc.

In that context and given the budget deficit & the dire straits of the private sector, I think it's actually extremely generous.

The union's are moaning about the fact the government have already made up their minds. No idea if this is true. Maybe it even is but then if you are already offering an incredibly generous offer, what's wrong with having your mind made up?

Niceguy- longer hours?! There really aren't enough hours in the week- most teachers I know, myself included, tot up enough as it is!

All this teacher bashing makes me wonder why some of you would want your DC's taught by people who you deem to be so uneducated and ignorant...!

Niceguy teachers are facing redundancy and many of us are facing more hours. I know teachers who have more contact time on their timetables because of budget cuts. Because staff budgets are being cut some support staff are going meaning that teachers are doing more. Department budgets are being cut which just means teachers buying in more resources out of their own pockets.

Niceguy2 - my school has made teachers redundant for the last two years. From September this year, all of us will have to teach more hours within the timetable than we currently do. I have been teaching since 1997, and am a Head of Dept and a Head of Year. I earn £35,000, so your "conservative" £30k is hardly that. I love my job, but it's exhausting. If I have to teach more hours than I do currently, then the extra stuff I have to do for both my department and my year group will have to be done in my own time (by which I mean out of the 1265 directed time hours I am contracted to do)

Redunancies are very real in teaching.

I have not read all of nicegiys posts as I am only skimreading the thread, but I am not sure he is teacher bashing. From the outside teaching does look easy. I have only taught two lessons today and even my partner joked about me having an easy day. However I was at my desk at 7am this morning and left at 6pm this evening. I have not even managed a cup of tea. I have been home for about an hour and had to ask dp to take dd out as I will have to work this evening and most of the weekend.

Before I went into teaching I did not have a clue about the hours I would work or the emotional drain of the job, why would anyone else?

I don't think teachers should go on strike, and I am one.

I joined a union connected with my specialism that gives me the legal and personal liability cover but will never expect me to strike.

My schooling in the 80s was seriously affected by teachers strikes. Teachers do (as then) have justification for this action but strikes do impact the children first whatever time of year they are.

Why couldn't teachers boycott SATs and other statutory government inspired schemes? This would hurt the people who really need to get the message and would, in my opinion, do the children a favour!

I would echo that 30K is generous and slightly rose tinted and not conservative. I earn a similar amount to ET and am on the upper pay scale with a management allowance.

secondary schools do not do SATS. We can hardly strike when they have GCSEs etc.

Niceguy- wasn't accusing you of the 'teacher bashing', it was in reference to some other posts! [smiley]

Eviltwins, I took those figures from the TDA website Teaching salary scales

I'm not teacher bashing at all and I do understand that teachers work long hours. That said you are not unique. Many many people in all walks of life work long hours.

And on the pensions front noone can deny teaching pensions, like the rest of public sector are unsustainable. This has been obvious for a long time but there's never been the political will or climate to sort it out until now.

The problem is that teacher's strikes will hit parents who have more than likely had to take pension cuts themselves or simply don't have anywhere near the same offer. The fact you work hard/long hours will simply be lost on them unless you are implying you work harder than they do. On top of that the same parents will have to either take holidays off/unpaid leave or pay for childcare. All so you can strike for something which simple mathematics show you cannot reasonably have.

In that context I don't think there will be much sympathy.

Is it really sad that I am looking forward to the strike as it means I can catch up on work? It's a load of hassle for me as I have to rearrange a school trip but the thought of getting all that marking and planning done is very tempting.

I think that the (currently) good pension helps to motivate people to go into teaching despite the low pay compared to other professional jobs, and if that is erroded the quality of people entering the profession could go down. I know several people who would make amazing teachers who have chosen not to go into it because it pays too little (they work in (trashy) TV); do we really as a society value 'Sing if you can' over our children's education?

Qumquat I would have thought that the point of a strike is that you don't work.

I am not convinced that the strike will achieve anything, other than piss off the public and then demotivate teachers. I love my job but for the first time in a very long time I am starting to resent the fact that I work the hours I do to be universally loathed by the public. I am actively exploring other options.

Yes, I have a friend who's a chartered accountant. He has said many times that his dream job would have been to teach history but after research he decided he couldn't possibly teach and have a mortgage and possibly support a family. It's a shame that people are put off like that when they clearly have a passion for the subject and the job. He finds accountancy very dull but it does support his mortgage and his wife and daughter so he feels he made the right decision.

Twinklypearls, I loved it too but began to resent it. Since I switched to being a TA Ive never been happier. Money is crap though, obviously.