Striking as an ECT1

[Serena1977]

I am an ECT first year doing a maternity cover post. By the end of the contract, I will have banked 3 terms of my 6 that I need to pass so I'm relying on a great reference to get my next post to complete my probation.

I want to strike and am in the NEU but I also need a great reference.

If I was permanent, I wouldn't hesitate to strike. I know in theory, striking shouldn't affect my reference and it wouldn't be mentioned in a reference but other points can be made to reflect the school's annoyance if I went on strike. I also don't want to piss off my striking colleagues if I went in. Nor leave my non-striking TA with our high needs class alone.

WWYD?

Reading between the lines, is someone putting pressure on you not to strike? If so, you need to make your union rep or district secretary aware of this because I'm pretty sure it is illegal to do this.

If that's not the case, then don't assume it will upset your head, some heads do understand why the strike is necessary. And presumably you're not the only NEU member, so it's not a given your school or class will be open. Your TA can refuse to cover you on a strike day, btw, so if she does cover that's a position she has put herself in, and she should be the one feeling guilty for undermining the strike.

If your work in general is good, then the head/whoever cannot misrepresent this on a reference. If anyone has even alluded to your reference in this way, get the union involved.

I'd still strike if you want to, and as pp would be mindful of who is putting pressure on you not to strike and feed back to your union rep.