Teachers in Brent schools will be coming out on strike again on Wednesday March 28th in further action over the pensions issue. They will be distributing a leaflet to parents and carers setting out their case:
A message to all parents and carers in Brent
Teachers across Brent will be taking strike action on Wednesday 28th March.
We know this may be inconvenient for you but we hope you will understand why we are doing this and that you will support us.
Teachers do not like taking strike action but we believe we have been given no choice by the government.
We are striking because the government won’t listen to us and insist on making unnecessary changes to our pensions. We believe these changes will be damaging for teachers and for education.
Below we list some of the facts about our pensions we think you should know. For more information please talk to teachers at your school.
FACT ONE
Teachers, and other public sector workers, are being asked to pay 50% more for their pensions, work longer and get a smaller pension when they retire.
FACT TWO
Teaching is an all consuming and tiring job and can be stressful. We do not believe it is reasonable to expect all teachers to work until 68 to get a pension.
FACT THREE
The government says our pensions are unaffordable but their own figures show that this isn’t true.
FACT FOUR
Many private sector workers have no proper pension scheme. The government should do something about this, not cut the public sector pensions.
FACT FIVE
Cutting public sector pensions will just make more pensioners poorer and put the cost of supporting them on to the State and taxpayers.
