Portsmouth Grammar school strike

The News, Portsmouth

Teachers who are members of the National Education Union at PortsmouthGrammar School are reluctantly preparing for two days of strikes due to a dispute with the School Governors about pension arrangements.

Transcript

00:00We are PGS, not numbers, not a spreadsheet.

00:03We are PGS, not numbers, not a spreadsheet.

00:07We are PGS, not numbers, not a spreadsheet.

00:09Hi, so I'm Jackie Taylor.

00:12I'm a regional officer for the National Education Union

00:14and I'm here supporting staff at Portsmouth Grammar School today.

00:20Teachers here have been offered a pay cut

00:24in order to be able to stay in their pension scheme.

00:27If teachers don't accept that pay cut

00:31then they will, in all senses, be forced to have a fire and re-hire situation.

00:41And they are not happy about that.

00:44They've taken on quite a lot of pay cuts and pay freezes over the last few years

00:49and they're just not prepared to take a further pay cut

00:51in order to stay in their pension scheme.

00:54And obviously, being out here during school hours,

00:59you've also been getting some support as well

01:01and what's the response been like since you've been...

01:04Yeah, there's been a huge amount of support.

01:06It's actually, despite the weather, been a really positive day.

01:11All the staff are fantastically professional

01:14and they've been incredibly friendly to everybody that's come past.

01:18Parents, children, the other staff in the school

01:21who are members of the National Education Union

01:23have all come out to support and encourage

01:26all the staff in the union who are on strike today.

01:30So we've had...

01:31All of the feedback we've had has been incredibly positive, yeah.

01:36There's been negotiations going on for quite a few months

01:39and initially, the employer proposed to take all staff out

01:44of the teachers' pension scheme without any negotiation.

01:48The National Education Union approached them

01:51to have some A-class conciliation talks, which they agreed to,

01:57and we came up with a compromise

01:59whereby teachers would have to take a pay cut.

02:03Teachers were surveyed on that

02:05and there was a resounding no,

02:07they were not prepared to take a pay cut.

02:09So we've balloted for action.

02:12And during all of that time,

02:13the reps of the National Education Union

02:17have been open to negotiation.

02:20Indeed, we have approached the school

02:22for further A-class talks

02:24with a compromise proposal.

02:27The school have rejected that proposal

02:29and they refuse to go to further A-class talks.

02:33So we're open to negotiation.

02:35We're still open to negotiation.

02:37We're ready to meet with them

02:38whenever they're ready to meet with us.

02:40And that will be the next step in that respect?

02:43If school leaders and management

02:45are prepared to meet with union reps,

02:48then we're absolutely open to doing that.

02:51But they haven't thus far said

02:53that that's what they're open to do.

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