Avenue School, Newham strike 29 November 2017, photo Martin Powell-Davies, photo Martin Powell-Davies

Avenue School, Newham strike 29 November 2017, photo Martin Powell-Davies, photo Martin Powell-Davies   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Helen Pattison, East London Socialist Party

Newham teachers and parents rallied again as Avenue School took its tenth day of strike action on 15 January.

They were joined at the rally by other anti-academies strikers from Cumberland and Keir Hardie schools, also in Newham.

They heard from University and College Union (UCU) and Socialist Party member Keishia Taylor, a postgrad striker at University College London, who raised that the UCU dispute is about more than pensions. This and previous attacks on staff’s terms and conditions are really about marketising higher education.

Martin Powell-Davies, National Education Union (NEU) regional secretary, made it clear these strikes are in opposition to schools becoming academies, not just about terms and conditions.

A recent council meeting voted for a motion opposed to academies. But since that meeting NEU has discovered that the council’s executive has not agreed the motion yet.

Refusing to accept and act on the anti-academies motion now could impact the schools currently in the process of becoming academies, but also expose the undemocratic nature of the Blairite wing of the Labour Party.