NEU members were on strike against excessive workload at Nottingham Academy this week (Picture: @NEUEastMidlands on Twitter)
Hundreds of thousands of schools workers in England and Wales in the NEU union are getting strike ballot papers in the post this week.
They are being asked to back strikes to win fully funded real terms pay rises for teachers and support staff in schools, following overwhelming support for a fight in internal indicative ballots.
Teachers have seen real terms pay fall by 20 percent in the last decade due to below-inflation pay awards, support staff pay is down 27 percent in real terms over the same period.
The NASUWT teachers’ union and the NAHT heads’ union are also starting ballots on possible pay strikes in schools too.
Every activist in schools must have a razor-sharp focus this week on organising to win the ballot and beat the Tory anti-union law thresholds.
The Tories can elect a string of new prime ministers by electronic voting if they wish, but if we want to strike we have to go through the slower process of a postal ballot under the anti-union laws.
School meetings, reps going round with a list, winning the arguments for action and ticking people off when they have voted are crucial
At a wider level it means NEU districts calling reps’ briefings, targeting key schools, phoning reps, and the like.
Schools should keep building the vote through to the close of the ballot at the start of January. As the ballot goes on it is also vital that a discussion begins on how to win.
This discussion is too important to be left in the hands of those at the top of the union.
We have to reject the idea that the best we can do is a few protest strikes that pressure the government maybe to give us a better deal next year, or that may push a new government when and if it is elected to give us a better deal.
We are all hurting now, and we need to fight to win now. It will not be done by one-day strikes or regional action.
Only hard-hitting and escalating strikes can force the government to cough up. And if we can be out alongside others that will strengthen us all.
We have to create a social crisis which means the government is so fearful of discontent from below that it is prepared to take the money off the rich and the profit-laden giant corporations to give proper and fully funded pay rises.
Talk of limiting action to at most one day in any month must be rejected—it won’t win.
It would be best to start with at least a two-day national strike before the February half term. And there should be a national demonstration on one of those days.
If the government does not shift we should then look to escalate rapidly with three days in a row and then a whole week—and be ready to call an all-out strike.
An inter-union row about school support workers must not be allowed to stop possible strikes in the near future.
The NEU union this week began a ballot of its members who work as school support workers in England and Wales.
A consultation has already showed 92 percent of support staff who voted rejecting the employers’ final pay offer for 2022-23.
The formal postal ballot taking place now asks people to vote in favour of strikes to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.
But some other unions who organise support staff have reacted angrily. In a joint statement Unison, the GMB and Unite said they are the only ones with bargaining rights for this group of workers and implied the NEU has no right to hold such a ballot.
There is even talk of disciplinary action through the TUC.
Unite members have rejected the pay deal but won’t strike because Unison and the GMB have accepted it. The basic issue is that nobody should prevent a group of workers who want to strike from taking action.
NEU school support members should vote yes to a strike and prepare for action. If possible they should be out alongside the teachers.
University workers are debating what action to take after their strike vote.
A branch delegate meeting of UCU union members on Monday heard the union leaders try to constrain action while rank and file delegates pushed for escalating and serious resistance.
The UCU Left organisation said in advance of the meeting, “We need to make a statement of intent as soon as possible while the whole union, including Scotland, still has term time to fight together.
“There was no point in opening the ballot in September if we weren’t going to take action until 2023.
“The CWU has named major strike days on 25 and 28 November and USS talks over pensions will take place on 30 November.
“Being out over this period gives us the chance to link with the wider movement and potentially get hundreds if not thousands of UCU members to lobby USS talks.
“A boycott of semester one marking and assessment will strengthen any strike action we take this term by showing the employers we are serious. Any threat of pay docking should immediately be met by strikes.
“And we should decide now that we will seriously disrupt the beginning of semester two.
“We should threaten the employers with escalating strikes, potentially to all-out action if our demands are not met.
“Let’s hit them hard and hit them early.” A final decision about the strike timetable is expected soon.
A staffing crisis in the NHS
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Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
