‘IF THE government keeps refusing to enter into meaningful discussions, or any discussions, we will be forced to carry on striking because we do deserve a fully funded pay rise that matches the inflation rate’ said teacher’s union rep Stef Easton.
This was the message from the NEU picket line at Park View Academy in Tottenham.
Stef added: ‘We’re in a retention and hiring crisis, struggling to get teachers, especially in core subjects like maths and science.
‘I’m only in my second year of teaching and I know four people I trained with have left already because of work load, and pay they cannot afford to live on, and I know of four established teachers who’ve left this year.
‘These are dedicated teachers who have left the profession because of chronic underfunding.
‘We do not have text books, pens, glue sticks and other resources. It’s difficult to take kids on trips because of rising prices, also because budgets are less as they are used to pay salaries as we’re not funded by government.
‘I think we need to link up with other unions because we’re all fighting for decent pay and working conditions but we also need to protect the right to strike as the government are taking away our rights to strike and protest.
‘We need to get the Tories out. They are not fixing inflation and are spinning the lie that salaries are pushing up inflation when economists say the opposite.’
‘Pay Up!, Pay Up!’ chanted striking National Education Union (NEU) secondary teacher members yesterday morning on a lively picket line outside Parliament Hill School in Camden, northwest London.
They cheered as passing motorists hooted horns in support.
NEU member Kyle Neale told News Line: ‘I’m striking because I can’t afford to pay my rent and childcare. I’m better off leaving the country to teach somewhere else, or quitting my job.
‘It financially makes more sense to do that.
‘I love teaching but we need a pay rise to have a decent quality of life.’
Camden NEU President Lucie Scott said: ‘We’re making a stand for a better future for our children.
‘A lot of us are struggling to strike because it’s disrupting our students.
‘But we’re out today to make a stand and we’ll come out strong in the new academic year if they do not give us our pay rise.
‘A general strike is a good idea. We need a government that realises people need a basic quality of life.
‘And young people need to be able to have a future with opportunities and that is what a good education can do.’
NEU pickets were out early on Friday morning at the Ark Globe Academy in Southwark, south east London.
Striker Jordan Pinkster told News Line: ‘We have to win this for future generations.
‘The Tories are destroying education, health and all the public services – they are being devalued by this government who just don’t care about the lives of working class people.’
