Green councillors back national teachers’ strike
24 April 2008
Members of the National Union of Teachers, the country’s largest teachers' union, are striking in protest at the 2.45% pay rise they've been offered this year. They say it's a below-inflation settlement that represents a real-terms salary cut.
Teachers' pay is negotiated nationally, and paid for from a dedicated schools’ budget funded directly by central government.
Councillor Ben Duncan, the Green councillors’ spokesperson for children, families and schools on Brighton and Hove City Council praised the dedication of the city's teachers, and their commitment to long-term excellence in all the city’s schools.
Ben (pictured below) said: “Teachers are being asked to take, effectively, a pay cut, just as the credit crunch is biting and the cost of living is going through the roof.
“The Labour Government has presided over a tax and pay structure for the public services that has seen the gap between the richest and the least well-off stretch even more wide than it was under a Tory government.
“It must now ensure that teachers, and indeed all public servants, are given a pay rise of at least 3.8 per cent, the current level of inflation.
"Of course to do so would cost money, but not doing so calls into question the very future of high quality local public services.”
With five secondary and more than 20 infant, junior and primary schools set to close for the day thousands of pupils and their families face disruption.
Cllr Duncan, who will contest the Brighton Kemptown parliamentary seat for the Greens at the next election, added:
“Headteachers, parents and pupils have said they support the action in spite of any temporary disruptions.
“At the heart of this action is the extent to which we value the work teachers do, and forcing another pay cut on them can only make future recruitment and retention harder, threatening to reverse recent improvements in local schools' performance.”
Notes to editors:
Media: for more information please contact Lizzie Deane External Communications Officer on 07899 843206.Visit Ben Duncan's Green blog spot at http://greenkemptownben.blogspot.com/
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