Teachers make their case outside the Conservative Party’s Hastings & Rye constituency office.

Teachers find MP sympathetic to their case

When striking teachers from local schools took their case to MP Sally-Ann Hart, they found her sympathetic to their claim for a pay rise and more funding for schools. Nick Terdre reports.

The meeting between Sally-Ann Hart and a three-strong delegation of local teachers from the National Education Union, which took place at the Conservative Party’s constituency office on Ponswood industrial estate on Thursday morning, was cordial, Hastings District secretary Jenny Sutton told HOT.

They felt that the MP was sympathetic to their claim for a pay rise, though without putting a figure on this, and was in favour of better funding for schools. While not endorsing the strike, she agreed that the pay rise should be fully funded and not taken out general school funding, Sutton said.

For her part, Hart told HOT, “Whilst I listened to their concerns, the issue of teachers’ pay lies with the unions and the Secretary of State for Education and I very much hope that an agreement is reached as soon as possible.

“As regards funding for mainstream, alternative provision and special needs schools, I have always campaigned for extra funding for our local schools. This government has increased funding for schools and for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, but I am aware that the need in Hastings and Rye is high and I will continue to campaign for extra funding for our local schools. ”

Effects of underfunding

The delegation gave Hart examples of the effects of underfunding and inadequate pay levels, such as one school being unable to replace a teaching assistant who left, another finding itself without paper for a week and school buildings being left in a state of disrepair.

“We were pleased that she acknowledged the serious problems caused by the underfunding of schools and said she would write to the education secretary Gillian Keegan,” Sutton said.

According to Sutton, the MP also agreed to contact local head teachers to hear their experiences of underfunding and to take other examples from the NEU. She also said she would write to the education secretary calling for increased school funding, and making the case that Hastings in particular needed more.

A small group of teachers accompanied the delegation to the constituency office. Thursday was the second of two consecutive strike days, following two single days in February and early March.

Mass rally

On Wednesday, budget day, a bus-load of local teachers went up to London to join the mass rally of groups involved in strike action including junior doctors, London Underground drivers, civil servants, university lecturers and BBC journalists.

There was a solid wall of people filling the streets between the  starting point in Hyde Park and the rallying point in Trafalgar Square, said Paul Franks, a member of the Hastings District committee, who was also present at the Tories’ constituency office.

The reduction in the real value of salaries over the years was causing difficulties in recruiting and retaining new entrants to the profession, he said. Young teachers in particular were often in desperate straits, having to turn to food banks or take second jobs.

On Friday the government finally ended its refusal to negotiate with the union and talks started. They were expected to continue over the weekend and may lead to an offer the union can put to its members, as happened this week with health workers.

If a deal cannot be reached, further industrial action is possible as the union has a mandate to call out its members which runs until the summer holidays.

Also in: Campaigns