I was on strike today...

[PASTIE]

Doing so wasn't a decision that came easily but having attended my local strike rally attended by literally hundreds of other teachers I felt much better about it.

The news would have you believe that the likes of me were banging on about getting a pay rise despite being pretty well paid for this area. I hope that people realised that this wasn't the case but that this was the teachers joining in with demands that public sector workers should not have to face effective pay cuts and a drop in standard of living relative to inflation and the cost of living. I hope people realise that we know that pretty much everybody is facing up to similar circumstances but that, like many other people, we object to the money that the government finds to fund other more controversial policies that, for the sake of avoiding going off topic, will remain nameless.

I personally thought that whilst the causes being argued today were just, a strike was likely to be a public relations disaster and it may yet prove to be so. I favoured a strike action only in conjunction with other similar professional organisations like Unison so that we were not left exposed and apparently out on a limb. Hopefully this will be the case next time. However, the impressive thing I witnessed today was teachers not so much striking for themselves but for the next generation of would be teachers facing up to pay levels descending to below the interest rates on even their increasingly hefty student loans and the damage that this will do in terms of the quality of provision for children who have not even started school yet.

Maybe that is where we are doomed to failure, demanding that governments plan for the long term benefits of the society they are responsible for rather than the short term tracks covering of their own election vulnerable backsides.

I post it here only with interest as a random and unscientific sample of other people's attitudes towards today's strike...

[Kentucky Kid]

our teachers are gonna have a few surprises tommorow

[Teesside White]

i remember when a load of uni lecturers went on strike 2 years back.....was quite annoying because they taught us in lectures but wouldnt mark our assignments, even after the strike was over they refused to give us the grades

[Katiekins]

I am not just saying this cause i had a day off, but like i said to my Politics teacher i was in agreement with it. I do think it is terrible that teachers do not get a rise in line with inflation, especially with the amount of crap some teachers in some schools have to put up with it. I would have liked to go and watched the strike today from a Political view (we have recently been stdying pressure groups and would have been a good case study for my exam) but i am sure my politics teachers shall fill me in about it .

[Neko Bazu]

I'm kinda torn on the teachers' strikes - yes, the reasons are just, but I'm concerned as to whether or not there was suitable cover for the children affected (especially those with GCSEs and SATs coming up). Yes, I know it's only one day, but for the kids who're struggling especially, that one day is a hell of a gap. I came out of my GCSEs with 1 A*, 7 A's and 3 B's, but even at that sort of level a strike would concern me - would there be more, how much time has been wasted and so forth? I'm sure we all know how fretful we get during exams even when things are going swimmingly!

I can't object to the strike, but - potentially - I have reservations. If some sort of cover was provided for the children, then superb. Otherwise, I think the timing could've been a lot better.

[PASTIE]

And the insane thing is that I come on here to see the reaction, but actually what I am doing is allowing myself to be distracted from preparing the lessons I have to teach tomorrow and then writing some of the reports that have to be in next week. In the meantime, my nine week old son is awake downstairs being sung to by his mother and smiling sweetly but I had to pull myself away to come back here and get on with it. No wonder people quit and I spend half my life trying to find alternative ways of wanting to earn a living.

Then I have to follow the criticism on the news from people saying we are only thinking of ourselves...

[Teesside White]

although i dont like the fact that they dont get paid in line with inflation, they still get paid more than nurses which is disgusting!

it wont be long before there is a nurses strike which would be fatal for the government

[GeoFox]

I am torn on this too.

On the one hand, I agree with what you were saying about it effectively being a pay cut and with these being tough times on people economically, it could hit hard. I think most people in teaching, and the public sector generally do not enter it for the money. Levels of pay across it, esp in teaching are fairly low, so below inflation rises are never good.

On the other hand, its about the same level, if not marginally higher than the rest of the public sector - so very comparable to the likes of police, civil service etc and given the state of the economy I know the government have to make decisions which keep the economy fairly strong, and inflation reasonably low which will keep people better off in real terms. Whether this amount of money would have any effect, or is just a drop in the ocean, I don't know enough about economics to say. Of course, public sector workers in general have good pension systems, good holiday entitlement (esp teachers) and decent job security, so are maybe less vulnerable to economic insecurities in some senses.

I did see, on the news last night, that teachers pay had risen over 9% in real terms in 1997, presumably some big above inflation ones in there. Maybe it all evens itself out in the end, but I know people will judge their pay in relation to what they had the year before.

My primary concern would be for the kids though, along the lines of what Neko said.

I just don't know. I would hope it is resolved and wouldn't come to any more strike days though, esp at this stressful time of year for students.

[CHOPPER READ]

You go on strike why don't you for more pay while the rest of the public sector have to make do with nowt.






Seriously,i support all public sector workers with their problems in gaining what they deserve from this govt. 1st May looms and they will get their noses bloodied.

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 19:28:41 GMT -1 Neko Bazu said:

I'm kinda torn on the teachers' strikes - yes, the reasons are just, but I'm concerned as to whether or not there was suitable cover for the children affected (especially those with GCSEs and SATs coming up). Yes, I know it's only one day, but for the kids who're struggling especially, that one day is a hell of a gap. I came out of my GCSEs with 1 A*, 7 A's and 3 B's, but even at that sort of level a strike would concern me - would there be more, how much time has been wasted and so forth? I'm sure we all know how fretful we get during exams even when things are going swimmingly!

I can't object to the strike, but - potentially - I have reservations. If some sort of cover was provided for the children, then superb. Otherwise, I think the timing could've been a lot better.

All fair points and there will be nobody more conscious of them than the teachers - in many cases I would say that the teachers are more conscious of this than many of their students.

There is no good time to go on strike for us. Exams and coursework are, lamentably, a constant thing for us. No longer are they restricted to June but they are modularised and/or involve coursework.

There should have been no cover for striking teachers. That is the nature of a strike - it is designed to be disruptive and sadly it seems the only thing we can do to become newsworthy. I hate hearing the LibDems demanding an agreement that teachers cannot strike, despite the fact that I still remain convinced that today's unilateral action was the best course of action. It needs to be all public sector unions so that nobody suffers the backlash.

If you want a measure of the impact, today I missed one meeting of no consequence to anybody, a very nice Year 9 class who missed one hour of their entire Geography course (some of whom won't carry it on next year), one A level group who have more than enough guile to use the time to revise if they so chose, a Year 8 class who I shall see again on Monday and who can easily and enthusiastically catch up some work we've been doing on volcanoes and a Year 10 GCSE class who have an exam in June but the pre-release materials for it are not available yet.

Whilst it is inconvenient to have missed those lessons and whilst I would hate to understate my own importance , I don't think the Earth will open up and swallow any of those people up as a result of today...

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 19:31:02 GMT -1 Teesside White said:

although i dont like the fact that they dont get paid in line with inflation, they still get paid more than nurses which is disgusting!

it wont be long before there is a nurses strike which would be fatal for the government

Agreed again. Nobody is campaigning that we should be being paid more than anybody (and anyway the pay complaints are not about all teachers but mostly the new recruits and the people we want to retain) but rather that everybody should be getting paid something closer to what they deserve. Nobody in the public sector in the 21st Century should be expected to take a drop in living standards.

[GresleyRam©®™]

I stopped at Tesco's on my way home to get a few last minute supplies for Munich, and it was busy with mums and children doing a BIG shop as they werent at school.

I blame you PASTIE!

[T C]

Contentious issue this one. Will put my threepenny bit in and say that don't agree with the strike. Okay so you ain't got a rise in line with inflation. You and a lot of people !
My missus is manager of a big clothes retailer and hasn't had a rise for three years cos they reckon profits not been enough...If she and her girls went on strike they'd get sacked. You have the strength of a big Union and won't lose your job.

Could say lots more but won't....

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 19:46:39 GMT -1 GeoFox said:

I am torn on this too.

On the one hand, I agree with what you were saying about it effectively being a pay cut and with these being tough times on people economically, it could hit hard. I think most people in teaching, and the public sector generally do not enter it for the money. Levels of pay across it, esp in teaching are fairly low, so below inflation rises are never good.

On the other hand, its about the same level, if not marginally higher than the rest of the public sector - so very comparable to the likes of police, civil service etc and given the state of the economy I know the government have to make decisions which keep the economy fairly strong, and inflation reasonably low which will keep people better off in real terms. Whether this amount of money would have any effect, or is just a drop in the ocean, I don't know enough about economics to say. Of course, public sector workers in general have good pension systems, good holiday entitlement (esp teachers) and decent job security, so are maybe less vulnerable to economic insecurities in some senses.

I did see, on the news last night, that teachers pay had risen over 9% in real terms in 1997, presumably some big above inflation ones in there. Maybe it all evens itself out in the end, but I know people will judge their pay in relation to what they had the year before.

My primary concern would be for the kids though, along the lines of what Neko said.

I just don't know. I would hope it is resolved and wouldn't come to any more strike days though, esp at this stressful time of year for students.

I'm afraid that I would be amazed if there are not more strikes. I am also no economist, but the evidence presented before us by our Union claims that there is no evidence that public sector wage increases affect inflation. I just do not know enough to know whether that is true or not.

Again, returning to my original point, despite the hours I do I know that this is replicated by many. I know that we are well provided for in terms of holidays (whilst I would claim that there are few jobs where they are so desperately required by the time they come around!) and for where I live I am well paid. However, the issue is not about people like me but for people like yourself about to leave University with the possibility of entering teaching. With a decline in standards we cannot expect the best applicants and when the current situation is that 50% of new teachers leave the profession again within the first three years then something is seriously wrong. The welfare of the students concerns me too - and allowing such a decline will affect them far more than it will affect "the economy" and in the long term the social and economic effects of weaker schools will be far reaching.

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 19:53:48 GMT -1 CHOPPER READ said:

You go on strike why don't you for more pay while the rest of the public sector have to make do with nowt.






Seriously,i support all public sector workers with their problems in gaining what they deserve from this govt. 1st May looms and they will get their noses bloodied.

You know the bizarre thing? The more this becomes evident and the greater the threat of a Tory government the more likely I become to vote Labour just to avoid it. Talk about stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. What a sorry state of affairs...

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 20:01:25 GMT -1 GresleyRam©®™ said:

I stopped at Tesco's on my way home to get a few last minute supplies for Munich, and it was busy with mums and children doing a BIG shop as they werent at school.

I blame you PASTIE!

My powers to disrupt spread far and wide! ;D

[PASTIE]

Apr 24, 2008 20:03:15 GMT -1 T C said:

Contentious issue this one. Will put my threepenny bit in and say that don't agree with the strike. Okay so you ain't got a rise in line with inflation. You and a lot of people !
My missus is manager of a big clothes retailer and hasn't had a rise for three years cos they reckon profits not been enough...If she and her girls went on strike they'd get sacked. You have the strength of a big Union and won't lose your job.

Could say lots more but won't....

I sympathise with her entirely. I bet you that there are other people in that organisation who are doing spectacularly well out of not giving their staff adequate payrises and would personally argue that the "work" done in the 80s by the DevilWoman was responsible for the deunionisation of the workforce and that she laid the way wide open for b*stards and bloodsuckers to run the country...

[PASTIE]

Anyway, stop being so interesting, I have reports to write...

[---------a]

I turned up to college and saw most of the teachers stood in the rain on strike, so I stood with them to try and get on local television, alas it didn't work

[T C]

Respect and admiring you for these posts Pastie but it gets my goat when Unions hold the Country to ransom with their demands.

I was in the RAF for 23 years and we did what we did out of sense of duty. Strike ? no way and up until Thatcher we were poorly paid

i thought being a teacher was a Vocation ... and people namely our future leaders could potentially suffer for this. Yeah sometimes we have to think of ourselves but there's a time and a place but I guess that's why you've chosen now, to maximise impact