UK teachers to stage key strike

Teachers in nearly 3,000 schools will stage a one-day strike on Thursday as union leaders fire the first shots in their campaign against pay and pension curbs and cuts in education spending.

Teachers in some 3,000 schools in northwest England will take a one-day strike on Thursday in protest to the government’s pay and pension cuts.

The action organized by the two largest teachers’ unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), will leave hundreds of schools closed down or partially so.

The strike is expected to be the warning shot to the government as teachers are planning industrial action across Britain in the autumn, including a 24-hour nationwide strike before Christmas, if the government does not heed protests against changes to working and retirement conditions.

“It will undoubtedly be an inspiring and well-supported start [to the calendar of action]. But teachers need to know that we are mounting a determined campaign aimed at pushing the Government into retreat, not just to protest at the inevitable,” the northwest Local Associations National Action Campaign said in a statement.

“By attacking conditions, when teachers’ workload is at almost impossible levels already, [Education Secretary Michael] Gove has raised the stakes massively; it’s high time we raised our game as well,” it added.

The action will follow the planned march for education organized by NUT in London on Tuesday.