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The Royal Wedding? No, a Royal strike!
15th December:
Clitheroe Royal Grammar
School (Lancashire) is totally closed by a solid strike of NUT and
NAS/UWT in protest at the head�s plans for an academy. This is
probably the first ever strike against Gove�s new �expressway�
academies. Over thirty staff, reps from neighbouring schools and
union activists held a static demo on the ring road in front of the
school�s sixth form centre, to hoots of support from local traffic.
Clitheroe is a
market town in the relatively affluent Ribble Valley. The school used
to be grant-maintained and still sports the �Royal� in its name. But
even here union opposition to academies, which will lead to worsening
of terms and conditions in the future, find a strong echo. UNISON
members at the school remember that their pay went down under
grant-maintained status, and the lesson is not lost on teachers.
NUT members, who
preferred not to be identified, said: �This is a happy school, where
staff show a lot of goodwill, but we are totally opposed to an
academy. Apart from our conditions we think it�s unfair to other
schools in the area�.
As their leaflet
explained:
�The six unions
above representing staff in the school would like to apologise to the
people of Clitheroe and Lancashire. Not everyone in the school takes
such a me/myself attitude to education at the expense of others. The
available finance should be shared fairly. We are not in favour of
helping ourselves by taking from others. Academies start the break-up
of the Lancashire Family of Schools, much valued by teachers and
parents across the County.�
The school is due
to become an academy by 1st January and nothing can stop
that now. But teachers have put down a valuable marker that the new
status cannot be used to rip up previous agreements and that they have
a strong workplace organisation.
Paul Gerrard
Bury NUT (pc) |
