Teachers strike over school jobs
TEACHERS are striking over redundancies at two schools in different local authority areas in Wales.
Twelve of the 40 staff at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth began five days of walkouts yesterday in protest against two teachers’ jobs being lost.
The 510-pupil school, which held half-term last week and not this week, as many other parts of Wales did, remained open despite the action by members of the NASUWT teaching union.
It is set to be hit by four further strike days on February 28 and March 1, 7 and 9.
Teachers in the NASUWT are also set to walk out at Tonyrefail School, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, on February 27 and 28 in support of four colleagues threatened with redundancy.
Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “NASUWT members at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen have not taken the decision to take strike action lightly.
“Staff have had to endure numerous redundancies at the school over the last four years, reducing staff numbers considerably.
“Despite the adverse impact this has had on teachers’ workload, they have striven to ensure children’s education has not suffered as a result. However, they have had to say ‘enough is enough.’
“Powys County Council has failed to honour its promises, made at the time the school was formed from a merger, that funding and jobs would be protected. NASUWT members feel they have no other option than to take this strike action in a bid to protect their jobs and the continued provision of high-quality education for pupils.”
Rex Phillips, NASUWT national official for Wales, said around 14 jobs have been lost over the last few years at the school, which teaches pupils aged three to 18.
He said the new model of combining pupils of all ages on one site appeared to be aimed at saving money, and blamed Welsh Government underfunding.
“A root cause of this problem is with Welsh Government, year on year, underfunding schools. We would like the Welsh Government to fund schools properly,” he said.
A Powys Council spokesman said: “Both primary and secondary numbers at the school have reduced since 2014/15, with a consequent reduction in delegated funding. The council is fully aware of the budget pressures and has commenced a fundamental review of its Fair Funding Formula for Schools.”
An RCT Council spokesman said: “It appears that neither the council nor the school has received any formal notification of strike action so is unable to comment further. The council can confirm it has been in discussions with ACAS and will try and find possible alternative roles for the staff who find themselves in a potential redundancy situation.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Despite years of austerity from the UK government, not a single Welsh local authority faces a reduction of more than 0.5% in their core funding next year.”