Militant teachers threaten action to cripple our schools
SCHOOLS face being paralysed as unions yesterday launched a ‘ militant manifesto’ barring teachers from carrying out a string of routine tasks.
In just over a fortnight, staff across England and Wales will stick rigidly to a six-and-a-half hour day, refusing all non-teaching duties.
Parents will be handed only one report a year on their children and staff will refuse to collect money for school trips, write letters or watch over exams.
They will no longer supervise pupils at lunchtime or even set up or take down classroom displays, under a 25-point work- to- rule plan over proposed changes to pensions. Activities such as after-school sports and drama will also disappear unless teachers have ‘volunteered freely’ to undertake them.
The withdrawal of goodwill, which is to start on September 26, was condemned last night as ‘pettily disruptive’.
It came as union leaders ramped up rhetoric against the Government, vowing to wreak havoc with a campaign of co- ordinated strikes and civil disobedience in the coming months.
The teachers’ action was announced by the National union of Teachers and the NASuWT, which collectively represent 85 per cent of state teachers.
The action forms part of a rapidly escalating dispute over pay, jobs and pensions.
The unions insist their latest campaign is ‘short of strike action’ and will not disrupt children’s education.
They also claimed yesterday it is designed to be ‘pupil, parent and public friendly’.
But critics branded the move ‘totally unjustified’. Tory MP Damian Hinds, who sits on the education select committee, said: ‘Calling this “short of strike action” is an insult to parents. extreme These and are totally far-reaching, unjustified measures that will undoubtedly harm pupils up and down the country. ‘What is more, the action is being called in protest over a pension deal that the majority of the parents affected by it
‘An insult to parents’
could only dream of.’ Professor Alan Smithers, of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham university, accused the unions of ‘devaluing’ their members ‘as professionals’.
Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘The guidance is nothing short of a militant manifesto which could paralyse some schools.’
On Friday, NuT members voted 91.6 per cent in favour of a work-to-rule and 82.5 per cent for a walk-out. The NASuWT has been running a workto-rule since December and has a mandate for a strike.
The NuT turn-out was just 27 per cent – down from 40 per cent in a similar ballot last year – and it remains to be seen how many of the teachers who didn’t vote listen to the advice.
No minimum turnout is required in law.
Teachers will soon start their second year of a pay freeze, followed by a one per cent increase for each of the following two years. Their pay review body is due to report by the end of next month.
Strikes in June and November last year forced the closure of thousands of schools.
The Department for Education said last night: ‘We are very disappointed the NuT has chosen to take industrial action. Only a tiny minority of their members voted in favour but it will damage the profession’s reputation.
‘The unions are taking industrial action before the independent pay review body has made any recommendations.’
The campaign heralds a return to the sustained industrial action of the 1980s that caused havoc in schools for years.
In a letter to members last year, Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASuWT, called for a repeat of this disruptive period, saying ‘it secured from the Conservative government contractual changes’.