schools
News and articles about work, policy and workers' and students' struggles in education around the world.
20,000 Birmingham council workers to strike
20,000 GMB, UNISON, AMICUS, TGWU (Unite) and UCATT members will strike alongside teachers and lecturers against council plans to use ‘Single Status’ negotiations to cut pay and jobs.
Council workers will be protesting against the new pay and grading system imposed by Birmingham council last week, affecting 40,000 staff.
UNISON has branded the structure discriminatory. Though it was designed to end wage inequalities, some workers will lose up to half their pay.
UK teachers set for first national strike in 21 years
Members of the National Union of Teachers are set to take part in the first national teachers strike in 21 years in response to the government's failure to keep pay-rises in-line with the rate of inflation.
After four years of below-inflation pay increases, up to 200,000 members of one of the biggest UK teaching unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), are set to strike on April 24th. The membership voted for a one-day walkout. 75% of those voting were in favour of a one-day walkout, with 25% against. Turnout for the vote was 32%.
Broken Barricades: The Oaxaca Rebellion in Victory, Defeat, and Beyond - Collective Reinventions
An analysis of the 2006 Oaxaca rebellion and its contradictions. Its diversity encompassed workers, indigenous groups, Stalinists, anarchists and others. Its weapons and tactics included general assemblies, strikes, barricades, mirrors and fireworks.
More strikes expected as Greece passes pension reform
Greek unions promise to continue protests against the government's pension reforms, passed on Thursday.
The pension reform raises the retirement age for women to 65 and workers in hazardous industries will have to work an extra two years. Many accuse the conservative government of going back on pre-election promises not to cut pension rights.
Greece heading towards general strike
Greek workers are set to go on general strike tomorrow (Wednesday 19th March) in protest of the government's planned pension reforms.
The government's reforms would mean the merging of pension funds and increasing the pension age for some workers. The government, however, has not made public any details on the size of savings that will accrue from the reforms. The trade unions have also argued that the current pension system could survive if bosses were made to pay their contributions.
Strikes spread across Zimbabwe
Teachers, nurses, doctors and civil servants have been taking industrial action since last Wednesday calling for an immediate review of salaries and benefits.
In the capital Harare, the strike has been compounded by the ongoing strike by council workers who downed tools last Wednesday, demanding a rise in their salaries.
Make sacking easier - says think-tank
Education unions have responded with anger to the recommendation of a conservative think-tank advocating making sacking of staff and pupil expulsion easier.
The unions assert that the report shows a distinct lack of knowledge of the reality in mainstream school and reveals the agenda behind the academy program.
Mexico: Oaxacan teachers occupy secondary school
Schoolteachers affiliated to the Sección 22 branch of the education union SNTE (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores en Educación) - the main protagonists behind the Oaxaca revolt of 2006 - have occupied a secondary school in eastern Oaxaca under the control of the Sección 59 scab union branch.
The occupation started as of yesterday (15 February) and is a preliminary attempt to reclaim all the schools organised by the 5,000-strong Sección 59, created by the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) Oaxacan state government and the SNTE leadership in Mexico City in an attempt to defeat the strikers in Sección 22 and thereby the 2006 uprising.
Cuts resurrected for Edinburgh schools
The latest drive to improve education by New Labour got off to a bad start after Edinburgh city council set up a cross-party group to decide which schools get closed in 2008.
The renewed threat of closures resurrects a plan which local people had believed to be over when a community campaign overturned the proposed closure of 22 schools and four community centres in the city last year.
France: civil service strike to test minimum service law.
The proposed teachers' strike on January 24th is likely to see the first attempts to implement the minimum service laws passed last year.
Teachers are striking as part of a wider civil service strike in protest at government attacks on virtually every aspect of their quality of life. Workers are defending their pay, their working week, job security, staffing levels, pensions and service requirements. Unions have called for the action which is expected to be widely observed.
