Street protests aim to teach council a lesson
SCHOOL ASSISTANTS ON MARCH OVER CONTRACTS
TEACHING assistants filled the streets of Durham to fight what they call unfair contract proposals.
The assistants’ dispute with Durham County Council began last year when the authority announced plans to fire and re-hire them under new terms and conditions, which would see them paid only during term time.
The workers and their unions say this would amount to a 23% pay cut, leading to claims some assistants would be unable to pay bills or forced to sell their homes.
Yesterday, teaching assistants, teachers and supporters marched through Durham, following the banners of the Durham Miners’ Association.
The banner bore the face of the association’s late president, Davey Hopper, who organisers said was the first to encourage a “group of very disgruntled women” to start the fight which has forced councillors to delay implementing the contract for months.
Sam Pascoe, from Bishop Auckland, said: “This has had a really big impact on our mental health, the stress we’ve been under.
“They want us to work more hours and be paid less for the privilege of doing it.
“People are leaving because they can’t afford to lose the money, it wasn’t well paid to start with, for what we do, teaching children.
“These are our future politicians, leaders, innovators, they need TAs. Schools do a lot around inclusion but SEN (special educational needs) Teaching assistants march in Durham city centre and disabled children wouldn’t be able to attend mainstream schools without TAs.”
Teacher Louise Gibson, who had joined the protest, said: “They are absolutely amazing, we couldn’t function without our teaching assistants.”
The marchers were passionately cheered on by eight-yearold Jude Gibson, who led the crowd in chants of “No ifs, no buts, no teaching assistant cuts” and “What do we want? Fair pay.”
His dad, teaching assistant David Gibson, said: “We’re here to save our jobs.”
Around 2,400 teaching assistants working across more than 300 schools in County Durham have been affected by ongoing contract dispute.
The county council has always said the move isn’t about cost-cutting. Instead, they claim it was necessary to avoid legal action from other school staff who are on term time only contracts and comply with equal pay legislation.
This week, Durham County Council leader, Simon Henig, said the authority was making “notable progress” in reviewing the contract, after its plans were suspendedd d followingf ll i huge protests last year.
He said workers could be regraded.
BothB th partiesti are h hopingi to resolve the issue by the start of the next academic year in September.