Steve Score, Leicester Socialist Party
A huge and lively turnout on the picket line at Ashfield Academy special school in Leicester reflected the determined mood of school support staff. The majority of the Unison union members who are taking strike action for fair pay were out on the picket line.
Two of them spoke to the Socialist to explain why they were on strike.
Chris Fryer: “We’ve fallen about £1,000 behind other special needs schools since academy status came in. We want to redress that. We had low pay already and now we are even lower paid.”
Jess Greengrass: “People assume our job is somebody sitting with a child reading for a little bit, and that’s not what the job is anymore. It is a highly skilled job, it is emotionally draining, it’s physically draining, and we love it. We love being here with the kids, but we can’t do it on love alone. We feel we aren’t valued properly. We are stressed, broke and we are struggling. These schools don’t run without support staff.”
