THERE was a big turnout of over 60 striking NEU (National Education Union) members and supporters on the picket line outside The Village School in Kingsbury, north west London yesterday morning.
Strikers against forced academisation were chanting: ‘We don’t want to work for an academy – we want to work for the local authority!’
There was a camera crew from the NEU filming the picket, which had colourful flags and placards.
The Village School NEU Rep Jenny Cooper told News Line: ‘Next Wednesday The Village School governors will be meeting and will make the final decision on whether we become an academy.
‘In the consultation, 95% of submissions were against the school becoming an academy.
‘We are on strike again on Thursday this week and next Tuesday and Wednesday.’
Young striker and NEU member Jesse Mandapat said: ‘I don’t want an academy because it’s privatisation. Conditions will be affected. It’s very hard for people under 25 because they are on zero-hours contracts. That’s why we have to protect good jobs. We need a revolution to sort this out.’
Hank Roberts, who has just been elected NEU NUT Section Officer of the Year, addressed the picket, saying: ‘We have everything to fight for here. We’ve got stronger and stronger as time has passed. If we can get the last push right we can and will stop this.’ Roberts then told News Line: ‘The lecturers have stood up. If the university bosses want to make it worse, let them carry on attacking them.’
Jean Roberts said: ‘It’s not surprising the Tories are trying to make the lecturers strike illegal because their legislation is totally anti-union and anti-worker. This has highlighted that we must always campaign against any school becoming an academy. More and more schools are realising that this is not the path to go down. ‘Unfortunately at The Village School, management see this as a way of paying themselves higher salaries and worsening the conditions for staff.’
• NASUWT members took the first of five planned days of strike action yesterday at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth against potential redundancies.
