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News Desk
A new wave of disruptions is set to take place in the capital's schools with threats of strike actions from the National Union of Teachers and NASUWT. Teachers voted to intensify their campaign against government plans to push ahead with academies and pension reform for teachers. The decision to strike was made during the annual conference of the NUT in Torquay.
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) has also joined the NUT at its own annual conference in calling for a campaign against government proposals to reform pensions for teachers. The union will now step up its campaign against pension reforms, pay and workload issues and over fears among NASUWT members of "a clear threat to state education from privatisation".
The NASWUT passed a motion that said that due to a “vicious and unjustified assault on teachers, it will be essential to intensify the industrial action campaign”.
Meanwhile, the NUT showed its concern about the expansion of academies and free schools, saying that they have more freedom to change teachers’ salary and conditions.
Christine Blower, the NUT general secretary, stated: “Depressing public sector pay in areas where there is generally lower pay would only serve to further depress local economies. Cutting the real and relative value of teachers’ pay will make teaching as a career much less attractive. It will certainly also inhibit the movement of teachers around the country”.
The unions will carry out more walkouts if the education secretary, Michael Gove, goes ahead with his proposal for further “pay flexibility”. Teachers would also build local campaigning alliances with anti-cuts groups, according to an article published by The Guardian.
Union delegates confirmed they would back the strikes with Gawain Little an, NUT delegate from Oxfordshire, showed his support to the initiative in order to avoid the “assault on our pensions, the aggressive promotion of academies and free schools, and the dismantling of local authorities”, he said. The first of the NUT’s wider local strikes would take place on May 22 in Birmingham, according to the report in The Guardian.
However, the Department for Education said that “these strikes will benefit no one. Most parents will be confused that teachers are rejecting the chance of independence –after years of crying out for that”. A spokesman affirmed that at present they are just concreting proposals, considering that “we’re approaching this in an open-minded way and are well off putting forward any concrete proposals. It’s a bit overblown to threaten mass resistance when no union knows what it is actually resisting”. photo credit: Natalie Mitrides
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