Northamptonshire teachers to strike again and join regional rally...here's when

Following the action on Wednesday 1st February, teachers in the National Education Union (NEU) in Northamptonshire will strike again on Wednesday 1st March as part of regional action throughout the East Midlands along with teachers in the West Midlands and Eastern England.

The NEU is the largest teachers’ union in Northamptonshire, recruiting thousands of new members since it announced strike action a few weeks ago.

The 1st February was the largest teacher strike in a generation with a record number of pickets across the county with hundreds of teachers attending rallies in Corby and Northampton.

Since then, thousands of teachers have signed up to join the union to take part in the action. The NEU is planning its largest ever regional demonstration in Leicester on Wednesday 1st March starting at 12 noon at Jubilee Square.

The union is expecting an even greater number of schools across Northamptonshire to close or partially close with a record number of teachers joining the strike, march and rally. The strike action is in opposition to a real-terms pay cut and the unwillingness of the government to even fund the below inflation rise as schools in the county face staffing shortages, smaller budgets and larger class sizes.

The National Education Union wants a fully funded pay rise which doesn’t cut into existing school budgets. At present, schools across Northants face a reduction in their budgets as class sizes are already at a 20 year high.

Nick Raine, Senior Regional Officer for the National Education Union in the East Midlands, said:“Teachers in Northamptonshire care passionately about their schools and the pupils they teach. After over a decade of pay cuts and decimated school budgets, they feel they have a duty to stand up for teachers, pupils and education and demand that our schools are properly funded. Our children are being let down by a government that is unwilling to invest in their future and is presiding over a crisis in teacher retention as class sizes rise to a twenty year high.

We’ve been delighted by the support we’ve had from parents, communities and councillors across Northants. We’ve seen some wonderful vocal support for the strike on our picket lines and through messages to our union.

No teacher takes strike action lightly but our members feel they have been given no choice. As the government and Secretary of State refuse to negotiate or discuss fairer funding, our members are standing up for pupils to demand they get the funding they deserve. This is a strike to not only improve teacher retention, but to secure a better future for children across Northamptonshire.”