TENS of thousands of teachers across the North West took strike action yesterday.
This was a further step in the NASUWT and NUT teacher unions’ dispute with education secretary Gove over pay, pensions, working conditions and jobs.
Some 2,765 schools in 22 local authorities were affected by the strike, which was the first in a planned national rolling programme of strikes across England and Wales which will continue in the Autumn term.
Teachers in the North West gathered at a series of mass rallies and marches in Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Chester to demonstrate their anger, frustration and concern.
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: ‘With the profession now under serious attack from the government we have to take a stand to protect education and teachers.
‘The North West is taking the lead in sending a message to Michael Gove that teachers are not prepared to accept government attacks on our pay, pensions and conditions.
‘Not content with wanting teachers to get less pay and retire later, Michael Gove now wants to go ahead with “liberalising” teachers’ working conditions such as the length of working days and hours and our entitlements on non-contact time and cover.’
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates told a packed Liverpool rally: ‘Congratulations to all of you for your determination and courage to make this stand. So much for Michael Gove’s claims that only a minority of teachers support our action.’
She said that teachers have had enough of Gove’s ‘relentless, unjustified attacks on teachers’ professionalism, on their pay, pensions, conditions of service and jobs’.
Keates warned that Gove ‘is now laying plans to remove other key contractual provisions, particularly those which support and enable teachers to work effectively.
‘If these proposals see the light of day, teachers’ holidays, working hours and other contractual provisions will be at the whim of employers and schools.
‘No other profession has been treated in such a vicious and callous manner.
‘If these proposals go through, being a galley slave will be a more attractive option.’
• Staff in the country’s network of 371 Crown Post Offices will take a seventh round of strike action this Saturday in a dispute over closures, jobs, and pay.
Support continues to grow for the campaign to save 74 post offices.
During last week’s strike, more than 30 shops in Whitstable on the Kent coast closed in support of the strike, and across the country tens of thousands of people have signed petitions against the closures.
The Post Office wants to close and/or franchise 74 Crown offices, 20% of the network, and cut up to 1,500 jobs.
These main offices comprise 3% of total post offices but handle 20% of all customers and 40% of all financial services sales, making them the powerhouse of the network.
Staff at Crown Post Offices have not had a pay rise since April 2011, while all other staff represented by CWU in the Post Office have had two pay rises totalling 6.75% in this period, and head office managers shared a bonus pot of £15.4 million.
