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Teachers strike against Nottm CC plan for a 5 term

tash@indymedia.org (Tash [Alan Lodge]) | 31.03.2012 18:55

 

Thursday 29 March 2012

At around miday and later at 4pm, teachers  and supporters gathered in the Market Square to protest at Nottingham City Council plan for a 5 term Year.

 

 

The NUT says, the first of what may be a series of strikes attracted strong support from members. Almost all the schools involved in the strike were completely or partially closed.

The day started with pickets at some schools that were remaining partially open.  From 10 am until 5:30 pm teachers were involved in activities outside the Council House in the Old Market Square. Leaflets were distributed to parents and public and around a thousand showed their support by signing our petition against the 5 Term Year.

At 12 noon strikers gathered in the Mrket Square to hear a few speakers explaining the reason for our strike.  Kevin Courtney Deputy General Secretary was amongst the speakers.

Public leafleting continued during the day until a further meeting for school workers not on strike was held at 4:30 pm.

The Nottingham Post ran a poll about the issue during the day and the results were as follows:

How do you feel about today's teachers' strike over the five-term year plans?

58%  I am against the five-term year plans and support the strike action

27%  I am in favour of the five-term year plans and do not support the strike action

10%  I am against the five-term year plans but do not support the strike action

4%   I am undecided

2%   I am in favour of the five-term year plans but support the strike action

A majority of the public are clearly opposed to the 5 Term Plan.

City Councillors had been invited to meet teachers at any time between 10 am and 5 pm but not one chose to do so.  In an email from Councillors Collins and Mellen to the NUT they wrote:

Members of the Labour Group discussed your request at a meeting on Monday evening, and whilst members of the Labour Group would be happy to meet NUT members, the NUT does not feel it appropriate that this meeting takes place in the middle of a school day.

Whilst their reluctance to meet teachers during the school day is somewhat petty, their refusal to do so even after school, shows how determined they are not to allow all Councillors to hear the views of members. A small group of Executive Councillors will not tolerate any open debate with all the elected Councillors of Nottingham.

They had offered to meet a delegation of NUT members at some future date but you can be sure this will only be with selected Councillors who have already indicated a refusal to negotiate on the key principles of the 5 Term Year.

Video : Nottingham teachers strike to save summer holidays

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh1aHUSv6FQ

 

National Union of Teachers : Nottingham City

http://nottinghamcitynut.org

 

National Union of Teachers

http://www.nut.org

____________________________________________

ALAN LODGE 

Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.  UK

Email:                 tash@indymedia.org

Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu

Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]

____________________________________________

"It is not enough to curse the darkness.

                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"

___________________________________________

<ends>

 


tash@indymedia.org (Tash [Alan Lodge])
- http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2497

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

BCTF teachers are planning the slow wheel approach for teachers.

31.03.2012 23:36

Since the sixties of last century the teachers in B.C. organized by the British Columbia Teachers Federation have had a program of twenty students per class room. Bill 22 takes away the teachers collective barganing, and is an attempt to break the teachers union. It is on-going now and the teachers are standing up to the B.C. Liberals policy of zero raise for the last three years, and the complete disregard of the teachers programs for class size and special needs children.

They have been on strike and explaining that the quality of the living and working conditions of the teachers has taken too much of a tumble, and that they intend more strike actions. Bill 22 of the liberals threatens the teachers and criminalizes their fight back. The teachers and the majority of parents and students have sided with the teachers (41,000 strong), along with the B.C. Federation of labour, CUPE--Canadian Union of Public Employees, (Canadas biggest union), the NDP--New Democratic Party- 2nd international social democratic party.

The teachers therefore have a huge majority and the B.C. Liberals are facing almost certain defeat on this issue come the next election. The teachers are meeting regularly and have decided to cancel their voluntary free labour for special events, because the complete disregard the government shows them, and for treating the collective barganing and collective agreements as some sort of criminal affair that is subject to fines and police, and military oppression.

So keep up the good union struggle in Nottingham teachers union, and be aware that you are not alone. The teachers did not as public workers cause the crisis of monopoly capitalism, and they must not in all justice, be made to pay for it.

End aggressive wars, and the austerity and shortfalls for social programs that the liberal-neo conservatives have imposed on the peoples of the world, and in England and Canada. Workers of the world, unite!! You yet have a world to win!!

Unity Jack


comment

01.04.2012 14:04

So what do the kids think to these changes? Or even the parents? Dose anyone even care what they think? This is all about the unions and the state, surprise surprise! Remember the kids are forced by law to go to these places, with disastrous consequences for families if they fail to comply.

anarchist


Solidarity to the teachers and to uphold telling truth to power.

01.04.2012 19:27

The BCTF - was formed by the efforts of the teachers and progressive trade-unions, socialist, and communist parties who work together to get improved living and working conditions in the beginning, and now thusly to oppose Bill 22.

There is no doubt that the workers, in this case teachers, are the ones that know how to improve the working and living conditions for themselves, and now with the students and parents support. In fact on March 6, 2012, students, teachers and parents as well as the trade union members, NDP's, socialist, B.C. Federation of Labour, and Canadian Communist party- Marxist-Leninist brought 6,000 protesters and activists organized by the teachers themselves to the B.C. Legislature from all around the province, and held a meeting on the lawns of the parliament building in Victoria, B.C. Canada.

It was a peacefull meeting and the speakers gave all the relevant reasons to oppose the draconian imposition of the neo-liberal statutes called Bill 22, which seeks to break the collective Bargaining, and collective agreements (by closing schools and shuffling the students into further overcrowded in class rooms) that would decrease the quality of education throughout the whole province of British Columbia.

Speaker after speak stood up and denounced Bill 22, and pledged to oppose this union busting legislation, much to the vocal delight and applause of the people assembled. Seeing this comment is going to England and Nottingham in particular it would be well to remember that it was the English Civil War that brought into being the first 'Free Public Schools' in the first 'Workers Commonwealth' of England.

That is first since after the conquest of the Matriarchy communist tribal society, by the Roman Empire and continuance of the English Empire.

Before that act of enlightenment (Public Schools in local dialect) the Peasants and workers were kept ignorant, and illiterate by the Stewart Monarchy and only Latin was used as the official language, English was treated as secondary and inferior.

With the overthrow of the Workers Commonwealth and the restoration of the monarchy, much of the enlightened laws were officially removed from the peoples governance, but they could not close the public schools as the peoples had enjoyed forty years of first time literacy in their own language.

That tradition the BCTF upholds in their opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of opposing teacher controlled work space in education as free public schools, and free public education with good union paying jobs, and high quality educational schools so B.C. will have an intelligent future without pollution and unjust wars and illegal violence.

It might also be well to remember that when the Nazis military coup-d'-etat took place in 1933, among the first things the Hitler regime done was to kill off Collective Barganing of the trade-unions, and kill off the leadership of the collective aggreements in place throughout society at the time.

That was how they thought that all power dictatorship to Hitler would take place. So we must be truthfull when we work for defending the living and working conditons of the teachers and other union organization, because throughout North America with ground zero in Wisconsin, the governor did by law forbid free collective barganing and used austerity to cut out thousands of public employees jobs, which also launched the same strategy in numberous states throughout U.S. society.

Canada to under the Harper conservatives has launched cutbacks and shortfall arrangements against the Public Sector workers. It is not the working classes that cause depression, it is the unjust wars and illegal violence of the monopoly capitalist class that uses the public treasury in a wrongful way, thus they cause the shortfall and austerity cutbacks. Thats not to mention how unjust if is to allow private profits to pollution of our natural pristine air, land, and water.

Public education is necessary to bring into being and enlightened and socially necessary society worth living in. Workers of the world, unite!! You yet have a world to win!! The liberation side says that globally.

Unity Jack