Teachers Strike: Leicester Report

By Heather Rawling Life member NUT

Young teachers proved Beth Davis, NUT president wrong when they took strike action and demonstrated to defend education and teachers pay and condition. At a Leicester City NUT meeting she said young teachers weren’t interested in striking to defend pensions. Yet in a rousing speech at the demo rally, a young teacher Hardeep Kang explained why young teachers were supporting the NUT:

“Generations of teachers before us fought, campaigned and defended teachers and education. Young teachers can’t sit back and let the government dismantle state education. It’s our job to defend their hard won gains.”

About 300 teachers, young and old, marched through Leicester including teachers from the troubled Uplands Junior School. (see previous articles in the Socialist)

The firefighters are keen to link their struggle with the teachers struggle and rank and file FBU members have called for teachers and firefighters to strike together on 17th October. This would be a magnificent show of solidarity and opposition to the government’s austerity measures. It could be a means of building for a 24 hour General Strike to unite all workers affected by worsening pensions, pay and working conditions. It could force the government to listen to the voice of working people.

How dare the Tories say they are for hardworking people! They force hard working people out of work and onto zero hour contracts while their rich backers have no idea what it is like to graft for a miserable wage.