Financial News
- 4 October 2012, 6:20
Teachers Step Up 'Positive' Industrial Action
Industrial action by teachers over issues including pay, pensions and workload has been stepped up amid warnings of an escalation in the coming months.
Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) launched a campaign of action, joining those in the NASUWT who are already taking action.
Nine out of 10 teachers in England and Wales will be involved.
Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: "Teachers are being undermined by a Government whose almost daily criticisms and erosion of working conditions and pay, coming on top of previous attacks on pensions, are unacceptable.
"This negative approach to the profession has to stop. The action we are taking at this stage will have a positive benefit on children's education and restore a balance to the working lives of teachers."
The leader of the NASUWT claimed that teachers taking industrial action have been threatened with breach of contract and salary deduction.
General secretary Chris Keates warned that action could increase later this year if the Government does not respond to teachers' concerns.
The union would challenge any schools or employers penalising teachers for taking legitimate industrial action, she said.
"The action is already having an effect because there have been threats from local authorities and schools of breach of contract or deductions from salaries.
"The more that threats are made, the more it strengthens the resolve of teachers."
Ms Keates said unions were trying to keep the action "pupil and parent friendly", such as cutting down on paperwork, but she warned the position could change, especially after a report from the teachers' pay review body later this month.
A teacher with six years experience has lost £5,500 through a pay freeze and pension changes, while those in the job for two years had lost £3,500, she said.
"Teacher morale is at an all-time low and our research shows that over half are seriously considering leaving the profession."
what do you think?
Russell Beaumont
Most comprehensive teachers would be unemployable in the real world they are insulated from the realities of life by over inflated wages they already receive.They are totally against any change or updating the education system to meet the needs of the 21st century with that blinkered outlook they are hardly fit to prepare children for the outside world. About the only thing they are fit for is rummaging through kids lunch boxes looking for unpolitically correct food and enforcing what they call social reform which is only comprehensible to themselves and perhaps social workers.
Mike Drouin
are they not ment to be teaching children the correct way to behave , complete set of wasters .
Viv hanshall
Mike, you are unable to spell correctly. And you are using an interrogative so your use of punctuation is incorrect. A teacher would at least know how to employ correct English.
David Francis
Viv - the message would still be the same and easily understood even if spelt correclty. This is not exactly the forum where correct spelling is essential. While I don't think ALL of them are wasters, there are many who simply could not handle a job in a competitive business environment. They do need a reality check here. I don't see tham going without pay increases for FIVE years!
t.bulgin
spelling correction ! this isnt a school.
gengisken1227
These teachers or at least the union leaders are still stuck in the 1970's but I bet they don't teach how militant union activists like Red Robbo crippled British Leyland with strikes, as a result now no-one works at British Leyland. What a result. Is it not a central tenet of learning to learn from mistakes and not repeat them - not if you're a teacher, apparently.
t.bulgin
Yeah, I remember red robbo. To think that we used to have a car industry once.....sigh. Lefties, take note. One more jewel in the crown that you ruined with your stupid voting.
Grant Berry
The enemy within - unions are not what we need in this day & age. The union fat cats at the top are worst than any fat cat in real life. I see Scargill is taking the Miners Union to court so he can grab as much as he can for himself - hypocrit.
Michael Dynes
Do you know something Grant, I actually agree with you about the union fat cats at the top. They are just as self-serving as politicians regardless of party , be it national or at local level.
t.bulgin
"The action we are taking at this stage will have a positive benefit on children" NO NO NO. Doing your job without complaining all the time will have a positive effect on children. OMG ! who are they trying to fool. Apparently we are all gullible idiots. "Teacher morale is at an all-time low and our research shows that over half are seriously considering leaving the profession." I hope they do, then we can start again without all the left wing(e) bias.
Michael Evans
Most of you wouldn't last five minutesin front of a class of teenagers.I did 40 years ,definitely not a skive especially all the weekends and evenings coaching and travelling away with sports teams(unpaid)STOP TEACHER BASHING AND SUPPORT THEM don't get sucked in by Gove's lies.
Mike Drouin
ahh bless .
t.bulgin
yes, diddums.
Michael Dynes
Sadly, our problem is that most of our teachers have never left the classroom. Straight from six form classrooms then into university classrooms, then maybe some placement classrooms and then back into the classroom to work. Do not get me wrong, a good teacher is worth their weight in gold, but they are few and far between. The best teachers are those who have come into the profession having been out in the "real world" for want of a better expression. Education comes from the Greek, to "Educe" to "lead out." How can you lead people out to somewhere that you have never been to yourself?
Michael Dynes
I think there are a lot of people in sectors a darn sight worse off than teachers, who I have more sympathy for. I remember sitting in the staffroom of a secondary school and a teacher asking me if I could get her a job. That was at lunchtime. At 3pm I walked back into the staff room and I saw the teacher complaining. Apparently the Head had asked them to stay back a while so he could have a quick word. She was hopping mad.."I finish at 3pm, I should not have to be asked to stay back" This was from a teacher who thought she'd be better off in the private sector. Now, how can someone like this "educate" meaning to "lead out" our children?
johnnydee23
Again can't really blame the teachers just the robber baron government .
t.bulgin
If you say so johnny, if you say so.
t.bulgin
Let them strike. They have no support from the rank and file. All they do is inconvenience parents who have to pay out for child care or take time off work during hard times. That means that mum dad and the kids suffer. What bothers me is that these stupid teachers think that mum and dad will blame it on the gov and vote labour next time. OMG these idiots are teaching our kids.
Jim Ford
"Let them strike. They have no support from the rank and file." They do from me!
t.bulgin
Positive industrial action. what ! they think we are all numbskulls. Pass me the sick bag.
Jim Ford
I worked in the aerospace industry for 35 years and in the few years remaining to retirement worked as a science technician in a secondary school. I soon realised what a relatively easy life I'd lead in industry. The thought of closing a classroom door behind me and having to keep a room full of teenagers occupied for up to an hour gave me great respect for those that had to do it. The teaching staff had little time in the evenings and weekends, which were largely spent with marking, and a lot of the long holidays were spent in lesson planning. I also noticed that as the end of term grew near, the teaching staff looked increasingly tired and drained. This was in an 'independent school' where the students were well motivated and behaved. I shudder to think what the job of teaching in an inner city comprehensive school would be like in comparison!
Michael Hawkins
Note they do not take action during their 4 months holidays Could the teachers take note of my concerns You are failing our youth by failing to educate them to a decent standard - hand back your wages
Neil Foster
5:40am on 3/10/2012
Nut lol