Class war as teachers prepare to strike

Apr 20 2008 by Abbie Wightwick, Wales On Sunday

Schools across England and Wales are expected to close this week as teachers stage their first strike in more than 21 years. The walkout, over the Government’s latest pay offer, will cause serious disruption for pupils in the middle of exam season. ABBIE WIGHTWICK reports...

When are teachers going on strike?

THERE will be a national one-day strike this Thursday, after members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted on March 31 for a day of industrial action. The walkout will be the first national strike in 21 years. On the morning of March 17, 1987, between 80% and 90% of classes were cancelled as members of the NUT and the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) staged a protest at Education Secretary Kenneth Baker’s decision to impose a national pay agreement, and the abolition of the Burnham Committee – the body set up to handle teachers’ negotiations.

What is Thursday’s strike action about?

PAY is decided by the UK Government after considering recommendations from The School Teachers’ Review Body.

Teachers are unhappy about the latest offer of a 2.45% pay rise for teachers in England and Wales, with further rises of 2.3% pencilled in for 2009 and 2010. The NUT claims the deal, announced earlier this year, represents a real-terms pay cut, and is campaigning for an immediate rise of either 10% or £3,000, depending on which is the greater.

A ballot of the NUT’s 255,000 members – including 16,500 in Wales – found three-quarters of teachers were in favour of a one-day strike.

How has this row come about?

UNIONS claim that teachers have been losing the equivalent of £2 a day in recent years, and that enough is enough.

However, the Government says that although the 2.4% award it has just offered is lower than the previous pay award of 2.5% it is above its own preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index, which is running at 2.1%. The size of the increase is partially determined by Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s determination to cap public sector pay increases at 2% where possible.

Meanwhile, teachers say the Retail Price Index measure – which includes mortgages – showed that the true level of inflation is running at 4.3%, and they want pay to reflect that. They point out that everyone has to live somewhere, and current pay deals are making it difficult for teachers to afford reasonable housing.

Teachers also complain that the credit crunch – in particular the rising cost of living – is making the problem even worse.

Would the situation be better if the National Assembly decided teachers’ pay in Wales?

MOST teaching organisations say it would be unhelpful for pay to be devolved.

The NUT says money that would go to the Assembly for teachers’ pay in Wales would be less than it is now under the Barnett formula funding mechanism – designed to ensure money is allocated fairly between England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

WILL we still be able to send the kids to school?

HUNDREDS of schools – specifically those with 100% NUT membership – are likely to close entirely, while others will be kept open by staff members belonging to different unions, and those who are not members of any union. NASUWT Cymru, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and Welsh-language teaching union Ucac will not be going on strike, although their members will be instructed not to take on the workload of those teachers involved in the walkout. While the unions have been angered by the pay deal, members are understood to believe it is the best that can be expected in the current economic climate. The best advice is to check with the school.

HOW embarrassing is all this for the Government?

SCHOOLS shutting will cause disruption for millions of parents across England and Wales, with most people either being affected by it, or knowing someone who will. It also comes right in the middle of exam season. While no GCSEs or A-levels are scheduled in Wales that day – except for a handful of Welsh oral exams – the walkout is not ideal preparation for thousands of teenagers getting ready to take important exams.

Gordon Brown has repeatedly stated his intention to keep public sector pay on a close leash, and is sure to lose face if he loses this battle and other public sector services follow the lead set by the teachers and go on strike.

Other strikes have already occurred in other areas of the public sector, with hundreds of college lecturers staging a walkout earlier this week over their own pay deal.

But the most certain damage is likely to be caused by the timing of the strike a year before the nationwide local government elections on May 1. Labour is already braced for a bit of a battering at the polls, and headline-grabbing picket lines could heap more misery on the beleaguered party.

Why are teachers putting the education of students at risk? Isn’t there a way of protesting that doesn’t affect pupils?

THE NUT says that the strike has come as a last resort in the face of continuing, but ultimately unsuccessful, pressure over the years to engineer a rise in salary levels. The union stresses that it would never do anything to compromise the education of pupils, but says the decision to go on strike – and in particular the 75% majority which voted for industrial action – shows the seriousness of the situation.

Will this just be a one-day strike?

AT the moment, there is only one day scheduled. But union officials have spoken of the militant attitude of members, with NUT Cymru secretary David Evans warning the teachers “have had enough”. He has warned that further strikes could follow if the Government doesn’t come back to the negotiating table.