Ted Woodley, Birmingham Socialist Party
500 striking teachers and support staff crammed into Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre for a rally on 21 January. Schools in the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) across the Midlands were closed down by the National Education Union (NEU) strike action, provoked by the trust boss’s decision to slash 10% of the staff.
The rally heard speeches from NEU reps alongside solidarity speeches from other unions, including the Fire Brigades Union and Unite bin workers. Matt Reid, Unite convenor of the bin workers, expressed his members’ support, and thanked the teachers and school workers for their ongoing support of the year-long bin workers strike.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede gave a speech in which he savaged the ATLP leadership and called for the resignation of CEO Richard Gill, along with the rest of the ATLP board, provoking massive cheers from the crowd. He drew still bigger cheers when he rightly called for an end to the failed academies programme of privatisation, and a return of schools to local accountability.
