Strike call over sixth form cuts

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

One of the biggest education unions has called for strikes to defend the jobs of teachers affected by a shortfall in sixth form funding in England.
Problems arose because schools and colleges have thousands more students than the funding council had expected.
Delegates at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference said a £200m shortfall would hit working class youngsters hardest.
It is hoped the chancellor will make good the gap in the Budget next week.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which funds post-16 education in England, outside universities, says it has provided £6.7bn for next year, up from £6.3bn.
But something like 35,000 more students than it had predicted have chosen to stay in education beyond the age of 16 - in line with government wishes - and funding has not been provided for them.
Schools and colleges were told of their final budgets in early March, only to be informed weeks later that in fact they faced a funding shortfall of up to 3.7%.
Critics of the LSC - which has also made a mess of funding a college rebuilding programme - say it should have expected this to happen in a recession.
The NUT motion instructed the union's leaders to "seek to defend the jobs of teachers affected by these cuts, by collective action where possible, up to and including strike action".
Working class kids
At the NUT conference Jane Bassett, from London, said: "For 10 years we've been repeatedly exhorted to drag our students through endless tests in order to reach that holy grail - five A*-Cs, and the route to the sparkling new future in the new knowledge economy."
She added: "It is an absolute disgrace that a Labour government has now turned round to the young people we've been teaching and said: 'You don't count any longer, you're on the scrap heap and we're not going to fund your education'.''
Ealing teacher Martin Allen told the NUT conference the cuts would have a disproportionately large effect on poorer students.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif If you are a working class kid going to do a vocational course at a further education college it is going to affect you http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Teacher Martin Allen

"If you are doing the Cambridge Pre-U at Eton or Harrow this isn't really going to affect you.
"Life is going to go on as usual, you're still going to get a job at the end.
"If you are a working class kid going to do a vocational course at a further education college it is going to affect you."
Providers of Entry to Employment (E2E) training for many of the most disadvantaged young people, many of whom are charities, say they have been unable to get confirmation of funding from the LSC.
Ken Cridland said the school in Lancashire where he teaches physics had already made 12 staff redundant before this latest problem arose.
It had been told it would be funded for 288 sixth formers even though it had 299 already and was expecting 30 or 40 more this autumn.
Either places would not be available or they would be squeezed in to existing tutorial groups, meaning a reduction in the quality of education. Some smaller courses might close.
He told journalists he hoped there would be a reprieve from the chancellor.
"I think all of us would greatly hope that he does put it right: there seems to be plenty of money around for bankers and others.
"That would be wonderful because it would save the jobs of our members and that's what we want - we don't want a fight."
'Lost generation'
A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "We are still working across government on the extra financial support we need to provide for the new learners that are coming forward.
"The LSC will write again to schools and colleges at the end of this month.
"A strike by teachers would be counterproductive and would only hinder students' learning."
The conference resolution said: "We don't want our students to become part of another 'lost generation', like the school leavers of the 1980s."
There are also big cuts in post-16 budgets in Wales, though the NUT - meeting in Cardiff - made no reference to those.
The Welsh Assembly Government says a tight budget has meant difficult decisions, so it is increasing sixth form funding slightly - meaning a cut in real terms - and cutting the money to further education colleges by about 1% overall.
The Conservatives say it is "utter madness" to be cutting back in the sector, when it is needed to retrain thousands of redundant workers.





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Combined with the 10% pay increase demand this looks promising. Hopefully these will be carried out during the GCSE exams to maximize the effect and to prevent me from having to take them (my mock results will be used which were superior to what im goning to get in these ones).

Its important that students discuss with there mates (and them with there mates etc) that they should refuse to be taught by scabbing teachers.

[Pogue]

I'll get organising.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

My first course of action is going to be a petition around the school which says "we will not be taught by scabs" and a facebook page to back it up.

[Pogue]

I think you should get disucssions going about whats going on first and wait until its clear there will be a strike and when before dealing with scabs, but certainly when talking about the possibility of a strike make mention that the students should act in solidarity with striking teachers.

I'm torn with school strikers over what the best actions of the students are. Would civil disobedience in school with the scabbing teachers be good to demonstrate how much the striking teachers are needed, or should students simply strike too and not turn up? I was thinking of this and I thought if the students went into school when the striking teachers were there, they could fuck things up for them, but I guess you'd need to consult with your teachers about what the best course of action would be.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

I think you should get disucssions going about whats going on first and wait until its clear there will be a strike and when before dealing with scabs, but certainly when talking about the possibility of a strike make mention that the students should act in solidarity with striking teachers.

A petition in this scenario is good because it gets people open to the idea early on and because it gets people talking and active without having to do much work (for instance last year when our old head some naive kids tried to get the maths teacher made headmaster and the petition got almost the whole school signed on and there were talks of protests, Imagine that with something not bat shit insane).


I'm torn with school strikers over what the best actions of the students are. Would civil disobedience in school with the scabbing teachers be good to demonstrate how much the striking teachers are needed, or should students simply strike too and not turn up?

Not turning up and if possible standing beside teachers on the picket lines. All the cool teachers are NUT members so thats A ok it seems the arseholes seem to be members of the scab unions


I was thinking of this and I thought if the students went into school when the striking teachers were there, they could fuck things up for them, but I guess you'd need to consult with your teachers about what the best course of action would be.

Not turning up and picketing. Going into schools and breaking peoples legs is going to end in riot police charging down the place. - That said if some scabs car gets keyed or there house covered in paint or whatever - then good.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Its also worth menitoning that while ocupations are an option they are currently just a wank fantasy and consintrating on getting kids to not turn up to school and to support the striking teachers is far more important then jizzing yourself over the thought of occupation's at this stage.

[Pogue]

A petition in this scenario is good because it gets people open to the idea early on and because it gets people talking and active without having to do much work (for instance last year when our old head some naive kids tried to get the maths teacher made headmaster and the petition got almost the whole school signed on and there were talks of protests, Imagine that with something not bat shit insane).


Not turning up and if possible standing beside teachers on the picket lines. All the cool teachers are NUT members so thats A ok it seems the arseholes seem to be members of the scab unions


Not turning up and picketing. Going into schools and breaking peoples legs is going to end in riot police charging down the place. - That said if some scabs car gets keyed or there house covered in paint or whatever - then good.

But i mean if they tried to keep the school open with scab teachers and you went in and fucked things up it'd demonstrate how neccesary the striking teachers are. Like when the tube cleaners went on strike, everyone went into the tube station and littered on purpose because there was no one to clean it up. If the tube workers had a strike but no one littered we would not have seen how neccesary well paid tube cleaners are.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

But i mean if they tried to keep the school open with scab teachers and you went in and fucked things up it'd demonstrate how neccesary the striking teachers are. Like when the tube cleaners went on strike, everyone went into the tube station and littered on purpose because there was no one to clean it up. If the tube workers had a strike but no one littered we would not have seen how neccesary well paid tube cleaners are.

I will not be informing people at this stage to wonder into schools and fuck shit up since that will put off many members of staff from striking out of fear of being blacklisted for supporting teenagers pissing on the blackboard. That and smashing up education establishments feels wrong when we are trying to make them better places and will put teachers of from striking. If however in the free time generated by the strike students decide to wonder into posh schools and fuck them up. Then I will support that 100%.

[Pogue]

I will not be informing people at this stage to wonder into schools and fuck shit up since that will put off many members of staff from striking out of fear of being blacklisted for supporting teenagers pissing on the blackboard. That and smashing up education establishments feels wrong when we are trying to make them better places and will put teachers of from striking. If however in the free time generated by the strike students decide to wonder into posh schools and fuck them up. Then I will support that 100%.

When I say fuck up I don't mean smash things I just mean disobey and muck around in classes. But it'd have to be pulled off really well to work so i suppose you should just strike with them instead.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Yup i dont see the point in turning up to class and being a prick when you can just not go.

[Pogue]

Yup i dont see the point in turning up to class and being a prick when you can just not go.

Cool, try to get people active though.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Yup. A petition will go word around and the lure of not gong to school and upsetting posh ****s is good enough. Iv already got a group together to go and do the petition and will talk to people whom know kids at other schools who will are to start agitating .

[Pogue]

I'll start trying to do stuff. I'll need to find out how my teachings are thinking though. I don't know if they are even NUT.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

NUT is fairly large

[Pogue]

NUT is fairly large

Yeh but alot of teachers are not in it, specifically in grammar/private schools and more well to do colleges.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Grammer schools are not numerous and are a southern thing, I dont see any reason why the teachers would not be in the NUT although I believe student walk offs would be easier in comprehensives (because were hard nuts) and I dont really give a fuck about private schools (in the UK posh schools are called public schools) because theres no chance of them doing shit - (Most people also are hostile to them for good reason).

[Pogue]

Grammer schools are not numerous and are a southern thing, I dont see any reason why the teachers would not be in the NUT although I believe student walk offs would be easier in comprehensives (because were hard nuts) and I dont really give a fuck about private schools (in the UK posh schools are called public schools) because theres no chance of them doing shit - (Most people also are hostile to them for good reason).

Well there will be alot of teachers not in the NUT, but yes alot are in it (292,238). I guess my analysis comes from my experience of not knowing any teachers in my school who were in the NUT (because it was a grammar school they all tended towards that less militant union).

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Grammer school bastard!!!!

Would I be right in saying that grammer school teachers are move removed from the kids , our teachers discuss the union with us and juging by the stationary I have stolen over the years quite alot have NUT labled pens.

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

It's an absolute joke... they pulled about 1.2 million out of sixth forms in my county, which could apparently cost 35,000 people spaces at colleges next year. Nevertheless, there's the money to spend £7.2m policing the G20 protests for one day...

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

"Education , Education , Education".

Christ I hope those pricks get shanked.

[Pogue]

Well TB actually did spend alot of money on education, but he spent it poorly and tried to privatise it at the same time because he is clueless. Labour supporters say the spending on education is evidence that New Labour is just a modern Old Labour. Bollocks. The privatisations and pay cuts are evidence enough for that.



Grammer school bastard!!!!


Lol in fairness I hated it and went to a comprehensive college rather than go to sixth form.


Would I be right in saying that grammer school teachers are move removed from the kids , our teachers discuss the union with us and juging by the stationary I have stolen over the years quite alot have NUT labled pens.

They claim the opposite. But thats shit, theres a more condescending business like attitude towards pupils and an arogance towards them. We were told fuck all and the relationships were typical yuppie type ones, although there was one teacher who would talk openly to us, because my school was not NUT there was never militancy.

[Pogue]

I mean during the nationwide NUT strike no teachers at my school went on strike. The only one who would have didn't even work on the day the NUT called the strike so you know.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Oh our school seems to be divided between teachers who you can add on facebook and will discuss there drunken nights out (and there NUT membership) and those whom have a very cold attitude towards students. Henceforth the "we will not be taught by scabs" campagin will be good because no one will want to spend there time being taught by wankers.

[Pogue]

Oh our school seems to be divided between teachers who you can add on facebook and will discuss there drunken nights out (and there NUT membership) and those whom have a very cold attitude towards students. Henceforth the "we will not be taught by scabs" campagin will be good because no one will want to spend there time being taught by wankers.

Wow, some of your teachers seem ace, I didn't ever experience that, except for the one I mentioned.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Yeah once we found our geography teacher lieing at the back of the class room with his hands over his head because he had a hang over.

[Pogue]

Yeah once we found our geography teacher lieing at the back of the class room with his hands over his head because he had a hang over.

lol :lol:

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

"ughhhh , fuck off you little ****s go watch batman begins or something its in the dvd drive"

[ls]

Grammer schools are not numerous and are a southern thing

There are supposedly 164 nationwide and most of them appear to be in Kent, but there are alot in Lincs as well as up north too: http://tinyurl.com/ddyxn3


I dont see any reason why the teachers would not be in the NUT although

Because they "don't believe in unions", some people are simply aversed to them even if it is (and they know it is) to their detriment.


I believe student walk offs would be easier in comprehensives (because were hard nuts) and I dont really give a fuck about private schools (in the UK posh schools are called public schools) because theres no chance of them doing shit - (Most people also are hostile to them for good reason).

Some people get into schools which are grammar-ish, basically there are quite a few comprehensives which are close to grammar schools filled with poshies and posh teachers.. however we should think of the working-class students here and not about the teachers, they are after all, the ones who undeservingly end up getting a raw deal (of course if they have a hand in doing direct action that's brilliant).

Let's imagine for a minute we can convince people who we don't really like (stuck-up teachers for example) to be in a union.. that still helps us, the more we can collect into that category in a school, the more we democratise the school. Obviously there will be plenty that are aversed to the whole idea, but that does not mean we shouldn't try - not for their sake.. for the students.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

I dont really think students are the best people to recruit people whom seem to hate them into unions

[Pogue]

We should start thinking up what we're going to do.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Student walk out to make the scabs* efforts to turn up pontless and to have them known as scabs.

*They are absoulte ****s this time round considering that they are refusing to take a day off in protest of the goverment fucking over millions of working class kids

[Alf]

Comrade Joe wrote: "All the cool teachers are NUT members so thats A ok it seems the arseholes seem to be members of the scab unions"

I teach in a sixth form college in London and I am definitely a :cool:teacher and for this very reason quit the NUT some years ago. I have been involved in strikes and pickets in schools and colleges on various occasions and on a number of them the NUT has told its members to cross the picket lines. The most recent example was the strikes by UNISON members in 2006. Not being in the NUT doesn't stop me from discussing with other workers and calling for everyone, regardless of what union they belong to, to unite in general assemblies. In fact it makes my position more coherent. As a trade union the NUT has to enforce the trade union laws which say that taking decisions about going on strike in a mass meeting, or engaging in solidarity strikes, are illegal and cannot be supported.
It's a mistake to think that the NUT is not a 'scab union' because it uses a more militant language than the other ones. It's true that the more militant teachers tend to be in the NUT but that's precisely because its function is to keep the more militant workers under control.
I do think that the NUT's radical talk at this conference (about strike action over pay and LSC funding) reflects a growing discontent among teachers and it may well result in some form of action. On the other hand the NUT has used such language many times in the past only to call things off before they happen.
As for what students and militant teachers should do if a real struggle breaks out - there are plenty of recent examples from France, Italy, Greece etc, where teachers and students have got together in assemblies, demonstrations, pickets etc. In other words students have joined the strikes of teacher and vice versa.

[ls]

I dont really think students are the best people to recruit people whom seem to hate them into unions

The keyword being 'seem', I'm no apologist for bad teachers but sometimes it can be good to try a little understanding, also as Alf has said:


In other words students have joined the strikes of teacher and vice versa.

And this would be brilliant if you had both non-NUT members and ones striking themselves. If indeed NUT advocated scabbing then you could potentially work together to prevent that from taking course (maybe advocating joining the IWW and dual-carding or even just being in the IWW for non-NUT ones, for favourable conditions for them could help in that respect too).

[Hoxhaist]

The real disappointment however is the failure of union leadership in the US. Looking at the posts of union strikes and lockouts in other countries, the lack of any action from American unions other than concessions is an embarassment.

The unions of America need to grow some back bone and reach out to other unions and possibly co-ordinate strikes against specific companies with employees in other nations. With the power of globalized companies, unions within a corporation ought to unite across national boundaries in order to hold the companies truly accountable instead of letting just shift production from unionized areas to exploitable areas.

[Alf]

Hi libsoc. Good that we are agreed on the most important points at the moment: need for unity between teachers and students, and between teachers and other education workers currently split up into different unions.

Don't agree that building the IWW can be an alternative in this day and age. What's on the agenda iin this period is workers' assemblies and councils, not 'industrial unions'

[ls]

Don't agree that building the IWW can be an alternative in this day and age.

The IWW could be (and is building into being slowly) something very special indeed, I don't really fully agree with either Afed or ICC's general feeling on industrial unions.


What's on the agenda iin this period is workers' assemblies and councils, not 'industrial unions'

Those are both brilliant things, there's no doubt about that.

Must we really set ourselves to such an 'agenda'. I don't think we have to. As long as we build as much solidarity amongst ourselves as possible, we should be appreciative of it emerging from any of those ways of organising described in this thread.

[Pogue]

Don't agree that building the IWW can be an alternative in this day and age. What's on the agenda iin this period is workers' assemblies and councils, not 'industrial unions'


While I see your point, I think a revolutionary industrial union is neccesary as an organ in which class conciousness and revolutionary knowledge can develop through collective struggle. I don't think a revolution will be caused by militants simply winning arguments in the workplace.

[Alf]

I agree it's not just a question of winning arguments - forms of organisation are necessary. But I think that experience has shown that permanent mass organisations are no longer possible outside of a revolutionary process. Far better that we get into the habit of forming assemblies and committees when we need them and dissolving them when the struggle dies down, otheriwse they will tend to be recuperated or turn into minority political groups that don't really understand their own role

[Trystan]

Just a quick question: is this just sixforms or colleges as well? My college is getting £ 800, 000 in cuts.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

I'll have to see what's happening on Monday and see what can be done. I'll have to ask my form tutor and my history teacher (he's NUT rep)