Teachers march against performance pay

LAST SATURDAY, 12 February, up to 1,500 teachers and parents marched through London against Performance-Related Pay (PRP) in schools.

Martin Powell-Davies, chair STOPP

The demo was about twice as big as the organisers, School Teachers Opposed to Performance Pay (STOPP), expected. Teachers in Victorian costume led the protest. Banners proclaimed: “No to Victorian values”. Hundreds of balloons sent the message ‘No to Performance Pay’ into the London sky.

Teachers will press the teaching unions to ballot for a one-day strike against performance pay.

Tony Benn MP got a standing ovation at the rally when he described PRP as “discriminatory, arbitrary and unfair”. Bernard Regan, NUT National Executive member said: “Our campaign is not just about getting rid of a pernicious system where pay depends on labelling pupils, it’s about defending comprehensive education.”

Linda Taaffe, NUT national executive member, was cheered when she said that the national executive meeting would be voting on a motion calling for one-day strike action.

Linda said: “The government try to give the impression that PRP can’t be stopped. They’re wrong. We’re going to organise a mass campaign of action to defeat it.”