NEU: set action now for after 16 March!

Reports suggest that the National Education Union (NEU) has continued to recruit significant numbers of members in the run up to our first strike day on 1 February. This shows the real and growing appetite amongst school workers to fight back for pay rises and against cuts.

The fact that the union’s demand in the strike is for a fully-funded pay rise is significant. The pay settlement imposed by the government means that pay rises are paid out of schools’ existing budgets, which have increased less than inflation. The result is more school cuts, and, most often, reductions in support staff numbers.

Reduction in support staff numbers worsens educational outcomes for everyone, the ability of schools to be inclusive, and the workload of those staff who remain.

Support staff members in Wales beat the union law thresholds and will strike alongside teachers. Support staff in England missed the anti-union laws threshold, with a 84.13% “yes” vote on a turnout of 46.46%. Support staff in England should be re-balloted as soon as possible to enable them to join the fight. Support staff members who refuse to cross picket lines should be assured of the full support of the whole union.

The union has announced a calendar of strike action, to follow Wednesday 1 February by three weeks of rolling regional strikes between 14 February and 2 March and two days of national strike on 15-16 March.

It is imperative that the union announces more dates, for soon after 16 March, now. Most schools have only two weeks of term after 16 March, so waiting until after 16 March to give the legally-required 14 days’ notice of further strikes means delay until the third term.

It is also critical that the action announced is a significant escalation. We will not win with a strategy of a day here and a couple of days there.

It will be harder to persuade members about action after Easter, as we will enter the run-in to SATs, GCSEs and A-Levels. We will need to be prepared to persuade members to strike in that period, but that will be more easily done if we have had a significant programme of action before the Easter break and members can see that the union intends to fight to win.