Teachers at Northampton school 'turn out in great numbers' for strike against pension cuts

Teachers 'turned out in great numbers' for the first day of industrial strike action at a Northampton school.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU), which represents teachers at Northampton High School, in Hardingstone, went on strike today (February 10).

The teachers are in dispute with the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) after it threatened to ‘fire and re-hire’ teachers in order to force them to accept 'huge cuts' to their pensions.

A spokesman for NEU said: "Members at Northampton High turned out in great numbers this morning for the first day of industrial action.

"The majority of NEU teaching staff at the school attended the picket and rally this morning.

"With further strike days on February 23 and 24 and in early March the NEU calls on GDST to withdraw its plan to withdraw from the Teachers Pension Scheme.

"Our members oppose this plan to slash the pensions of teaching staff at GDST and there is no justification for this erosion of terms and conditions of employment."

Teachers at NHS stand to lose around 20 percent of the value of their pensions despite GDST being in a healthy financial situation, NEU said.