teachers
Teachers to boycott primary school tests
As annual conference season approaches for the teaching unions, a number of teaching unions are expected to vote for a boycott of primary level Sats tests.
National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) are both expected to get overwhelming 'yes' votes when they push for a boycott of the primary level version of the Sats tests. Sats tests are used for 11 yr olds at the end of primary school, and until 2008, for14 yr olds at the end of the secondary Key Stage 3 phase.
Mexico: Guerrero teachers occupy electoral institute in protest at educational reform bill
Schoolteachers and teachers in training have occupied the electoral institute's state offices in Chilpancingo, Guerrero and are threatening to destroy the ballots of today's statewide municipal elections.
Around 300 teachers started Sunday with the occupation and "liberation" of a motorway tollbooth near to Chilpancingo, giving free passage to motorists, a tactic also used in support of the 50 day long (and counting!) teachers' strike in the bordering state of Morelos, which is also in protest
Oaxacan teachers reach agreement with their union and local government
Sección 22, the radical Oaxacan section of the Latin American education workers' union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores en la Educación (SNTE), has finally signed deals with both the SNTE hierarchy and Oaxacan local government. However, the strike will continue until this weekend.
The strike (previously reported on Libcom here and here), a contrast of almost blanket support from union members and almost blanket condemnation
Mexico: teachers' strike spreads up the Pacific coast while Oaxaca cautiously holds firm
The annual teachers' strike in Oaxaca has been bolstered by soldarity strikes of other sections of the Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajadores en la Educación (SNTE) stretching up and down the Mexican Pacific coastline, while in Oaxaca itself, occupations and blockades continue apace in support. Most analysts however have already doomed the strike to failure.
On Friday 30th, the strike by the Oaxacan SNTE local (Sección 22, around whose strike coalesced the 2006 revolt) entered its 12th day, with more motorways blocked, more tollbooths closed down and more education buildings occupied throughout the state.
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.
Central African Republic: teachers threaten strike
Secondary and primary school teachers are threatening strike action over wage arrears.
Teachers are demanding the payment of three months salary before the new school term starts. The government last year made an undertaking to pay teachers' wages promptly, this included an agreement to pay three months wages before the new term begins this September.
First day of school cancelled in Palestine due to strikes
Palestinian children were due to begin their first day back at school on Saturday, however in the West Bank, school was suspended due to a teachers' union strike.
The teachers are protesting a government decision to reduce weekends to one day per week and end having Saturday as a day-off. In Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, Ma'an's correspondent reported that the streets were teeming with students returning from school after finding their teachers absent from the classrooms.
Fiji: Public sector strikes grow amid death threats and intimidation
A week long strike by 1400 nurses in Fiji expanded on Thursday as 1000 teachers and 300 public works, water and sewerage workers also began strike action.
They are demanding the reversal of a 5% pay cut and the changing of the retirement age from 60 to 55, and an additional 10% pay rise. The pay cut and change in retirement age were announced shortly after the military government took power in a coup last December.
Ivory Coast: primary school teachers continue strike
The strike, which originally began in November and was suspended in January, came back into effect on the 14th of June.
The basic demand of the teachers is an increase in the allowance that they are paid towards accomodation. The planned budget for this year gives teachers 30000 CFA Francs (£29:50) a year. Average monthly wages in Ivory Coast are estimated at CFA 26200, although due to civil problems all figures are unreliable.
Dividing and conquering the working class with drug testing: Hawaii teachers, coercion and a failure of working class solidarity
This is a piece written by an anonymous teacher in Hawaii in response to the teachers' union accepting a contract with mandatory drug testing in exchange for a raise.
In a historic blow to workers’ rights, and working class solidarity in Hawaii, the members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) have been coerced into voting to relinquish basic rights to gain a needed pay raise. The contract they agreed to provides for 4% raises over each of the next two years, with other supplements amounting to an 11% pay raise over two years.
