Discontent has been brewing at Halesowen College, Birmingham, following the summary dismissal of no fewer than four Maths teachers in the last month, including Dave Muritu, the College’s UCU Branch Secretary. The College has seen pickets, lobbies and widespread condemnation for its persecution of teachers, seemingly solely for raising issues of genuine concern to do with their students’ educations.
Teachers at Connaught School started a two day strike today (Wed 7th) against plans to force the school to become an academy. There were more than thirty people on the picket line, and all NUT members at the school were out on strike. NASUWT are balloting for strike action.
The teachers said they had received welcome support from the teachers at Stratford School, also striking at the moment against attempts by the head to dock their pay by 15% for carrying out the ongoing NUT work to rule.
The picket will start at 7:15 am tomorrow and pickets welcome support from the community.
SolFed's Education Workers’ Network will host our first workplace organiser training on Saturday, 17th November 2012, 10am-6pm; at SOAS, London (1st floor, Brunei Gallery building, opposite the main SOAS building entrance).
This will be a day of training sessions & discussions on workplace issues for workers in educational organisations regardless of job, role and whether unionised or not. It is addressed at anyone who wants to:
build a network with fellow education workers;
learn to take on management and organise workplace struggle;
share ideas & experiences on building solidarity and confidence in the workplace.
Programme includes basic workplace organiser training & workshops on:
On Tuesday morning (16th Oct) strike action by National Union of Teachers (NUT) members closed Connaught School for Girls in Leytonstone. Several NLSF members who live locally to the school, as well as local parents and students joined the picket.
The teachers took strike action in protest at plans to turn the secondary school into an academy. Across the borough, primary and secondary schools are being academised/privatised and plans are underway for a freeschool to be set up in Walthamstow.
The teachers at Connaught are preparing for further strike action and may be out again next week on Wednesday.
(Un)Qualified teachers wanted.
While the eyes of most people, both critical and uncritical, are drawn to the Olympics, secretary of state for Education, Michael Gove, has introduced possibly his most significant and destructive piece of reform.
Academies no longer need to employ qualified teachers to teach lessons. Gove heralds this as 'freedom' for academies to employ 'the best for the job'. So while trying to raise the profile of teaching, he's doing the exact opposite. But this is a smokescreen. This is nothing to do with profile, or improving education, or getting 'the best for the job'. It has everything to do with driving down pay and conditions.
Bournville School on strike next week. Worthing High out this week. Noel Park School, Haringey out.
Bournville School Strike
Bournville School in south Birmingham is set to face two days of strike action next week over plans to convert the school to 'foundation' school status. Workers at the school had successfully defeated plans to force an academy conversion less than a year ago after threats of joint strike action and a community campaign.
The latest action is set for Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th July in "protest at the failure of the school to enter into meaningful consultation regarding proposed conversion to Foundation status and in protest at the change of employer with resultant threat to terms and conditions."
A few regional stories wound me up this week. Great Yarmouth academy long days. Waltham Forest strike ballot. Islington academy axes free meals. University pulls unpaid job advertisement.
ACADEMY SUPER-LONG DAYS
"The devil will make work for idle hands to do."
The idle hands in question? PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN. Luckily brains-of-britain Gove, has a plan to keep these TERRORS off the streets so they don't grow up to be nasty ASBOs or some thing terrible like that. Keep them in school until 6pm everyday. Every fucking day. 6pm. Every day. Not punishment. Not detention. Just a normal school day proposed at Great Yarmouth's Greenacre Primary School under its academy plans.
About seventy people demonstrated at SOAS on the 6th June, in the continuing battle for better conditions for cleaners in the London universities.
The cleaners at some universities have won the London Living Wage, but they have not given up and are demanding equal conditions of employment for all staff - fair sick pay, holiday pay and pension contributions. Some universities, like UCL, are refusing to make any increase in cleaners’ wages. Others, like at Senate House, have conceded the LLW but are now trying to impose speedup on the cleaners with an increase in workload.