National Education Union (NEU) members at sixth form colleges have now taken four days of strike action – on 27 November, and 3, 4 and 13 December – over their demand for funding from the Labour government for a pay rise. A further three days of action are planned in January if the dispute is not resolved.
Sue Atkins, Southampton Socialist Party, reports from Hampshire
Three Hampshire sixth form colleges took part in the strikes. After the early morning picket on 13 December they held a joint rally at a Southampton hotel.
There was incredulity that non-academised colleges have been excluded from the national pay award when all sixth form colleges do the same job.
The workers are baffled that a Labour government is digging its heels in over the tiny amount of money involved, which was likened to ‘finding the cash down the back of a sofa’.
If the government valued the workforce, this dispute, and the obvious injustice, could be solved overnight. This is not an oversight. The government says that austerity is over, but refusing to restore pay is a continuation of austerity.
Maggie Fricker, vice-president of Southampton Trades Council, brought solidarity from the trades council and all the unions at Southampton General Hospital where she works. She made comparisons with recent strikes involving nurses and doctors, which were not only about pay but also about protecting the important services that workers provide.
Hannah from Itchen College explained the important role that sixth form colleges play in the lives of working-class students. 50% of their students are from the most deprived areas of town and 75% have part-time jobs to help fund their studies. “We have no choice but to withdraw our labour as we care about our young people and the education they deserve. Some of our students will become teachers themselves and it is important they see we are fighting for them.”
A non-funded pay rise cannot be achieved by ‘efficiency savings’ and will inevitably result in cuts to courses and larger class sizes.
The NEU regional secretary also addressed the meeting and urged members to support a motion to national conference demanding that all colleges be brought under local government control.
Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party, reports from Yorkshire
NEU members at Notre Dame sixth form college in Leeds were in festive spirits as they sang alternative Christmas carols on their picket line.
On the fourth day of strike action, it was clear that there was deep anger at the fact they were having to take this action to receive a pay rise.
One picket commented: “We thought we were voting for a left-wing Labour government, but instead we’ve got another centre-right government”.
This anger culminated in a protest outside the office of local Labour MP and Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Bramley, West Leeds. Strikers came from Hull, Huddersfield and Manchester, and were joined by NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede.
Whilst Reeves was nowhere to be seen, this pressure forced another two local MPs to attend the picket line, Alex Sobel and Richard Burgon.
NEU rep Allan argued that winning this battle should be a step to getting pay parity for teachers in further education colleges.
Sara Gillman, Reading Socialist Party, reports from Oxfordshire
On 13 December, Socialist Party members were there in solidarity with NEU strikers at Henley College.
Although it is the season of ‘goodwill to all men’, it would appear that not all teachers qualify even for the meagre pay rise the government offered!
One striker did think that perhaps this was just an oversight on the part of government, not to fund a pay rise for teachers in sixth form colleges without academy status. But we discussed this further and concluded it could be part of the push for all education establishments to become academies.
A new teacher was incensed that his wages were not going up – he now earns just about minimum wage!
We also discussed our demand for councils to set needs budgets. Local governments have been accepting Tory cuts and putting taxpayers’ money into speculation and corporate ventures to attempt to make money instead of fighting the government for the funding needed for services. And now the new Labour government is blaming councils’ bad financial management for the lack of services instead of their national cutting agenda!
One of the teachers even talked of ‘a summer of discontent’ being on the cards, as we talked about the anger of other groups of workers. We also experienced many toots from other workers in vans.
One teacher told us: “This is the first Socialist paper I’ve ever bought.” We wished them well and promised to be back again in January to continue our support – and our discussions about socialist ideas!
