Teachers in Bristol joined National Education Union (NEU) members across England and Wales for their first day of strike action today (Wednesday). They are demanding a fully funded pay rise from the Government, but teachers we spoke to in Bristol said the dispute was not simply over pay.
They spoke of school budgets being stripped bare with concerns that underfunding would further limit the progress of the most vulnerable children. Alongside a lack of funding, teachers spoke of being overworked, with some having to take sick leave as a result of poor mental health.
There were an estimated 55 picket lines across primary and secondary schools in Bristol today (February 1). Many NEU members then joined a rally held on College Green which was part of a national day of action organised by the TUC to protest against the government’s controversial plans for minimum service levels during strikes.
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An estimated 500,000 workers were out on strike today in what has been the biggest single day of strike action in over a decade. Striking civil servants from the PCS, train drivers represented by ASLEF and the RMT and UCU members from UWE and Bristol University were also present at the Bristol rally today.
A total of seven unions are participating in industrial action today including London bus drivers from Unite and security guards working at UCL in London. Members from other trade unions who are not participating in strike action today, such as the CWU, GMB and the NUJ were also present at the Bristol rally today.
But much of the attention was on teachers who were on their first national strike since 2016. According to the NEU as many as 23,000 schools are thought to have been impacted by today’s industrial action, with closures and partial closures across England and Wales.
Josie Palmer-Turk who is a teacher at King's Oak Academy in Kingswood has been teaching for three years and has gone on sick leave twice in the last 12 months over her mental health. She blames the government, not the school leaders, for the current situation which she says causes teachers to be under an increasing amount of pressure.
Ms Palmer-Turk said: “When I was not treating myself the best but trying to be the best teacher I was at school from six in the morning until seven everyday. What tipped me over the edge is knowing that I didn’t have the capacity to plan my lessons for Monday.
“It’s just so draining, we haven’t got the time or energy to just exist as humans and teachers. It feels like it has to be one or the other, that we have to be able to give up ourselves to be teachers, it’s just inhumane.”
Abbie Southcott who also works at King's Oak Academy has also had to take sick leave due to poor mental health in the last few years. She said she felt that the pupils were being let down because the lack of funding meant that teachers were not able to provide enough support.
She said: “There’s so many vulnerable children in society that we are responsible for and we want to give them what they’re missing out on. They are coming in and they’re not being fed.
“We haven’t got the resources to make sure they are educated properly, let alone to make sure they are thriving and that is just devastating. It’s really sad, we all love our jobs but it gets to a point where physically we can’t do it anymore.”
Cam Quarrell, who works as a teaching assistant at Whitehall Primary school and an NEU member, joined striking teachers on their walkout today. Although the support staff ballot did not meet the threshold for strike action, many exercised their right to join the strike anyway.
Ms Quarrell said: “This strike is not simply about people getting paid more but about the money being offered coming from the government and not the school budget. Of course, teachers deserve more pay but the school budget needs to cover pastoral care, heating and stationary.”
Inflation is currently at a 40 year high while pay for experienced teachers has fallen by one fifth in real terms since 2010. The government is offering a five per cent pay increase which the NEU argues does not cover the current cost of living.
Not only are teachers seeing their energy bills rise but schools are also facing increasing costs which are eating away at their budgets. The current pay offer if agreed would come out of schools budgets, but teachers are demanding that their pay rise is fully funded by the government.
The government response
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she was “disappointed” that the strike went ahead, telling Times Radio the industrial action was unnecessary as discussions with the unions were continuing. “I am disappointed that it has come to this, that the unions have made this decision. It is not a last resort.
"We are still in discussions. Obviously there is a lot of strike action today but this strike did not need to go ahead,” she said.
In an interview with the BBC, she added: "What is not realistic is for us to be looking at inflation or inflation-busting pay rises. We cannot risk fuelling inflation with inflation-busting pay rises. We have to look after everybody in the economy."
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I think it’s important for the public to understand that when unions understandably want more pay for their members, the Government has to consider how those things are paid for, and across the board there are three main ways to do that, there are tax rises, there are borrowing and there are cuts.
“We want to have further talks with the unions. Some of those discussions have been constructive. We have to balance that against the need to be fair to all taxpayers, the majority of whom don’t work for the public sector.
“As we’ve seen from the IMF just this week, inflation is one of the biggest risks to people’s pay packets and the Government will continue to take responsible action to ensure public sector workers are paid fairly but that it’s also affordable for the taxpayer.”
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