The Nasuwt and NEU are now striking together at St Cuthberts High School in Rochdale. Both unions are striking Tuesday to Thursday every week, both before and after the coming half term.
The dispute is about a restructure imposed on the school by the St Teresa of Calcutta Multi-Academy Trust (STOC). Whilst “official measures” of school performance don’t always measure the right things, the school was improving on all such measures prior to being taken over by STOC (suspensions down, attendance up, inspection outcomes improving, and GCSE results rising). All of those have worsened since STOC took over the management of the school and started a reduction in permanent staffing levels. Vacant posts have been left unfilled, and staff pushed out through threat of redundancy.
It is to stop those redundancies that the strikes are now taking place. The Nasuwt had previously has a focus on student behaviour, and unfortunately in their publicity on the current strike put that as issue one, even though it was not on the ballot paper for action this time. The NEU has been more successful in focusing its demands as ones that can be supported by the wider community, including the students — one year eleven told strikers last Thursday: “We all understand where you are coming from”.
Local Labour councillors and the local Labour MP have been supportive of the strike. (Unfortunately one of the two councillors who had been supportive lost his seat to a Reform candidate in last week’s local elections).
A St Cuthbert’s Parents Action Group is being established in support of the demands of the strikes.
Support is welcome on the picket line every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, between 7:30 and 9am. Messages of support can be sent via nick.wigmore@neu.org.uk, and updates are on the Rochdale NEU
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