Mainly young, mainly female and all determined to fight for their pensions

There was plenty of excitement in Wembley this morning and it was nothing to do with Take That's appearance at the Stadium over the next few days.  Striking teachers and other public sector workers thronged the Torch pub in preparation for the march and rally in Central London,  The mainly young and mainly female workers were often striking for the first time and there was no mistaking their fervour and commitment.

There were some brief speeches before the crowd boarded the tube for Central London and one of the key messages was that the strike was not just about pensions but about the whole  Coalition Government's assault on the welfare state. Gains that had been made as a result of the post-war settlement were under attack and had to be defended.

Brent Labour councillors Helga Gladbaum and Pat Harrison dropped by to offer their solidarity and ex-MP for Brent South, Dawn Butler mingled with the strikers. Shahrar Ali offered support from Brent Green Party.

'Lesson preparation' on the Torch's verandah

Waterloo Road's Grouch adds his support

Determined  teachers from Kensal Rise Primary in the front row

Brent NUT, ATL and Fightback marched together in unity

Caroline Lucas: "I'll be on the picket line tomorrow"

Commenting ahead of the public sector strikes across the country tomorrow, Brighton Pavilion MP and leader of the Green party of England and Wales, Caroline Lucas, said:

“Many teachers and other public sector workers have contacted me over the past week to express hope that striking wouldn't be necessary – that the Prime Minister would start taking their pension concerns seriously. Sadly the Coalition Government’s relentless attack on this country’s public servants has left them with no choice.

“We know that public sector pensions are affordable – this is really about piling the UK’s debt burden onto the people who did the least to create it. I believe that fair pensions are worth fighting for, so I will be joining the picket lines in solidarity with my constituents who have been abandoned by the other main Westminster parties. 

“This isn’'t something I do lightly. I regret the disruption caused by industrial action and think it must only be used in special circumstances – and would urge trade unions to work hard to ensure support from the wider public.

“Yet when teachers are being expected to pay 50% more in pension contributions, work longer and get less pension when they retire – and when negotiations are failing – targeted and considered action is clearly necessary.”

Brent Schools Closed Tomorrow

Tomorrow's strike is looking pretty solid in Brent Schools. The Willesden and Brent Times published the following list this evening:

According to a list compiled by Brent Schools more than 460 teachers from across the borough will take part in the protests.

Out of the 78 Brent schools, 36 will be completely closed, 28 will be partially closed with 14 defying walk outs to stay open.

The following primary schools have confirmed they will be closed during the strike Anson Primary, Barham Primary, Chalkhill Primary, Christ Church CofE Primary, Convent of Jesus & Mary Infant, Donnington Primary, Furness Primary, Gladstone Park Primary, Kilburn Park School Foundation, Malorees Infant and Junoir, Michael Sobell Sinai Primary, Mitchell Brook Primary, Mora Primary, Oakington Manor Primary, Our Lady of Grace Junior Primary, Our Lady of Grace RC Infant, Park Lane Primary, St Joseph’s RC Infant Primary, St Joseph’s RC Junior Primary, St Joseph’s RC Primary (NW10), St Mary Magdalen’s RC Primary, St Mary’s CofE Primary, St Mary’s RC Primary, Stonebridge Primary.

The following special schools have confirmed they will be closed during the strike The Village School Manor and Woodfield.

The following secondary schools have confirmed they will be closed during the strike Capital City Academy, Claremont High, Newman Catholic College, Preston Manor High, Queen’s Park Community.

The following primary schools have confirmed they will be partially closed during the strike Braintcroft Primary, Byron Court Primary, Carlton Vale Infant Primary, Elsley Primary, Fryent Primary, Harlesden Primary, Kensal Rise Primary, Lyon Park Infant, Mount Stewart Junior, Northview Primary, Oliver Goldsmith Primary, Our Lady of Lourdes Primary, Preston Park Primary, Roe Green Infant Primary, Roe Green Junior Primary, Salusbury Primary, St Andrew & St Francis CE Primary, St Robert Southwell Primary, Sudbury Primary.

The following secondary schools have confirmed they will be partially closed during the strike Alperton Community Stanley Avenue, Convent of Jesus & Mary High, JFS, Crest Boys Academy, Crest Girls Academy, Kingsbury High, St Gregory’s Catholic Science College, and Copland Community School.

At the time this newspaper went to press the following primary schools have confirmed they will remain open during the strike Avigdor Hirsch Torah Temimah, Brentfield Primary, Islamia Primary, John Keble CofE Primary, Kingsbury Green Primary, Leopold Primary, Mount Stewart Infant, Newfield Primary, Princess Frederica CofE Primary, St Margaret Clitherow RC Primary, Uxendon Manor Primary.

At the time this newspaper went to press Vernon House special school confirmed they would remain open during the strike.

At the time this newspaper went to press Alperton Community Ealing Road secondary school confirmed they would remain open during the strike.

The Torch of Workers' Solidarity

Strikers from public service unions and their supporters will be meeting at The Torch pub tomorrow morning at 9.30am for a rally before travelling to central London  The Torch is in Wembley Park opposite the Ark Academy, on the corner of Bridge Road and Forty Lane.

The Green Party Trades Union Group has issued the following statement:

GPTU calls on all its members and all Green Party members to suppot the strikers of UCU, ATL,NUT and PCS in the pensions strike tomorrow. We have posted a message from Sally Hunt of UCU on the GPTU blog which explains that, contrary to media myth, public sector pensions are hardly generous. These pensions are in any case a slight compensation for the low salaries of the public sector where many workers do their work out of a sense of public service. Why should these workers pay with their pensions for a crisis of international finance? 

Parent urges others to rally behind teachers

This is a posting from a parent of  child at Kenmont Primary School in Hammersmith and Fulham but close to the Brent border.

Dear Parents

I am a parent and my son is in year 4. I feel very passionate about building support for our teachers.

Together, Governors, teachers and parents, we were able to defeat the plans of the doom merchants in the Tory council to convert our wonderful school into an Academy. Where they failed with us, they are attempting to do this to other schools.

The government took our taxes to bail out the bankers, and are forcing through austerity measures which will affect the most vulnerable in society and impoverish the rest of us for years to come, which is why they are attacking teacher’s pensions.

David Cameron said we are all in it together. Do you hear the cries of the bankers and their rich friends with their share of the burden? No, because the burden rest with us to keep them in the riches they so don’t deserve

• There are 13 millionaires in the Condemn Government’s cabinet whose wealth is safely tucked away in tax havens abroad and not a drop goes to the Inland Revenue.

• Barclays bank recently published figures showing it had paid 22 percent tax to the land Revenue. Closer examination showed that they included their employee’s income tax in their figures and in actual fact they paid only paid 1 percent of their profits in tax.

If the bankers and their rich friends won’t take the pain they caused, why should we?

Teachers have a right to a decent pension, after all their money goes into paying for it. It’s another way of trashing our teachers and the education our children deserve. Teachers are fighting back and a victory for them is a victory for all of us, especially the most vulnerable.

Kenmont teachers will be meeting with other teachers at Lyric Square which is on Kings Street in Hammersmith at 9am on Thursday morning. At 10am they will be going on a national demonstration starting at Lincolns Inn Fields in Holborn later that morning.

Since the kids won’t be at school for the day, show your support and join our teachers at Lyric Square.


LINK to other London actions on June 30th

Strike Action is Direct Action

Fair Pensions for All Will Benefit Pupils

Click on image to enlarge

Next Thursday, June 30th, many Brent schools are likely to be fully or partially closed as teachers strike alongside other public sector workers, over government proposals to make them contribute more to their pensions and retire when they are older with a lower pension than they would get now.

As a former teacher and headteacher, and now a school governor, I fully support this strike action. The proposals if implemented would have a detrimental impact on pupils. One major issue that has not been fully covered by the media is that teaching is an intensive job that is physically and emotionally demanding.  Although there are people who perform extremely well into their 60s there are many who do not. I retired at 60 because I recognised that I was no longer performing as well as I should at a front-line job where the interests of pupils and parents required peak performance.

Imagine someone now having to retire at 66 years old, after more than 40 years in the classroom, not as dynamic as they used to be, having to deal with a class of 30 lively 5 year olds or 13 year olds. It would not be a positive situation for either children or teachers.  More damagingly a headteacher faced with an under-performing older teacher and under pressure from Ofsted, may have to resort to capability procedures in order to remove that teacher from the classroom. Such teachers would end, what otherwise would have been a successful career, labelled a failure and feeling dejected. Other teachers in the school would suffer a collapse in morale when they see a colleague forced to leave in such circumstances.

Although there will be short-term inconvenience to parents next week I hope that there will be recognition that if successful the strike action will be to the long-term benefit of pupils and parents.

NUT and ATL strikers and their supporters will be meeting at 9.30am outside the Torch pub in Wembley Park (opposite the Ark Academy) for a rally and will then travel together on the underground to Lincoln Inns Fields to join others from across the country.