Support local teachers and the right to strike this Wednesday – 1st February!

An estimated half-a-million teachers, railway workers and civil servants will be striking this Wednesday (1 February). Gabriel Carlyle explains what’s happening locally.

Teachers who are members of the National Education Union (NEU) will be striking across England and Wales this Wednesday (1 February), which has also be called as a national day of action to protect the right to strike by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Hastings Trades Council is encouraging members of the public to join the teachers’ picket lines, which will be taking place outside local schools between 7.30–9.30am.

A march in support of all striking workers will then be assembling at 11am by Hastings Pier, followed by a rally at 12 noon at The Observer Building (53 Cambridge Road, Hastings TN34 1DT), organised by the National Education Union.

The rally will include speakers from the RCN (nurses), RMT (railway workers), UCU (university lecturers) and the FBU (fireworkers), among others.

Why the teachers are striking

Like most other striking workers, the teachers are striking not just for fair pay, but also to defend a vital public service – in this case, our schools.

Indeed, the NEU explicitly states that their members are striking because they are ‘concerned that cuts to teachers pay, and lack of funding for schools, are causing a crisis in education’.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), ‘most teachers are likely to see a 5% real-terms fall in salaries this school year’, with these cuts coming ‘on top of a long period of real-terms reductions in teacher salaries dating back to 2010’. For example, salaries for more experienced and senior teachers (the largest category of teachers) have fallen by 13% in real-terms between 2010 and 2022.

As with nurses, these cuts are causing a crisis in recruitment and retention, with the NEU noting that ‘more teachers, and school leaders, than ever are leaving their jobs and the government cannot recruit enough teachers to replace them.’

They also point to a lack of funding for schools that means schools are spending less on important equipment and resources, are cutting-back on extra-curricular clubs and classes, and which means that children with special educational needs are not getting the support that they require.

Protecting the right to strike

Wednesday has also been called as a national day of action to protect the right to strike, in response to the government’s latest anti-union bill.

According to the TUC this bill would mean: ‘that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t. That’s wrong, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal. These new laws are a direct attack on working people’s fundamental right to strike to defend their pay, terms and conditions.

‘This government has gone from clapping key workers to threatening them with the sack if they take lawful action for a pay rise… As the cost-of-living crisis continues to hurt workers everywhere, we need to be able to stand together and choose to strike when we must. These laws will do nothing to fix this crisis – they will make it even harder for working people to get pay rises.’

What you can do

In addition supporting the teachers this Wednesday, the NEU is also encouraging parents and carers to: ‘talk to teachers at your child’s school to find out more about [the NEU’s] campaign’ and ‘contact your MP and local councillors and tell them that you support NEU members taking strike action’. More info here: neu.org.uk/pay/pay-campaign

Likewise, in addition to taking part in this Wednesday’s day of action (and joining workers on their picket lines) the TUC are calling of the public to sign their petition, lobby their MPs, create a social media storm using the hashtag #RightToStrike: tuc.org.uk/ProtectRightToStrike

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