Strike!

[Downsizer]

Update - my grade was called out for the first week in May and I did join my colleagues on the picket line. It was a fancy dress day and I turned up in a Pikachu outfit (or picket-chu as I was labelled!)

The original offer was 2%. During the strike, it was increased to 4.5%, with an additional 0.5% for the lowest paid. After another "yes" vote to another 6 months of industrial action, today the offer has now included a £1500 flat rate one-off payment. for last year and a commitment to not change the redundancy package until at least 2025.

Our NEC will be discussing it on Monday once the fine print has been looked at and I await their recommendation.

If it helps I've been with my civvy company for 7 weeks and we've all just been given 11.5%.

I'm blown away by it after years of Government abuse. It's a bit like a DV situation, you don't realise how bad the RAF (or possibly CS?) treat you until you go.....

 

[muttywhitedog]

Hmm, I received the email from the Cabinet Secretary and it doesn't mention the £1.5k as being part of the pay 'offer' open for negotiation. It's a flat rate cost of living payment for all CS and outside of any pay rises on the table.

Thats why I described it as one-off flat rate. Its still £1500 for all CS and the lowest paid need that money now. I doubt there'll be a better offer and I hope the union recommend acceptance and the membership accept it. The vast majority of that £1500 will be spent in the first three months after receipt, helping to grow the economy. The 10% claim was a starting figure and I dont think the majority of the members ever thought that a "baked in" 10% rise would happen. The majority of my team earn £22,400, and 5% of that will take them to £23,520. Its not great, but that figure is baked in for next year and a 4% rise next year would still give them another £1000.

 

[busby1971]

My wife is a teacher, she loves the job, really cares about the kids.

However, she really needs the protection of a Union because schools are really bad employers, but she will never strike because she cares about the kids (see above)

If a union came along that protected her but didn’t have the political baggage, that would be her choice.

 

[muttywhitedog]

My wife is a teacher, she loves the job, really cares about the kids.

However, she really needs the protection of a Union because schools are really bad employers, but she will never strike because she cares about the kids (see above)

If a union came along that protected her but didn’t have the political baggage, that would be her choice.

Is this the point where I state that teachers all earn well in excess of £30,000 a year and get 13 weeks' holiday and never have to work weekends?

Unless she teaches at a private school then her direct employer is the government of the day, and any union representing them will have to involve themselves in politics. That said, even private schools are bound by many political decisions regarding education.

 

[busby1971]

Great holidays, and a government funded pension too, there are downsides too but that’s true of most jobs.

 

[vim_fuego]

If it helps I've been with my civvy company for 7 weeks and we've all just been given 11.5%.

I'm blown away by it after years of Government abuse. It's a bit like a DV situation, you don't realise how bad the RAF (or possibly CS?) treat you until you go.....

Welcome to the party DS!

 

[ShakaKhan89]

Is this the point where I state that teachers all earn well in excess of £30,000 a year and get 13 weeks' holiday and never have to work weekends?

Unless she teaches at a private school then her direct employer is the government of the day, and any union representing them will have to involve themselves in politics. That said, even private schools are bound by many political decisions regarding education.

Sometimes it's more about working conditions than pay and holiday. Schools expect teachers to work an extra 30+ hours a week due to poor resourcing and scandalous account keeping... I personally know of someone who was just trying to help a SEN child get a placement after regulations said by law they had to give him a placement and they fired her for reporting them for illegally rejecting a disabled child! All because it would cost them more money...

A lot of schools make rules, regulations & judgements that are not in favour of the children or teachers. Just like the nurses/doctors striking for better care for their patients, the teachers are striking for better treatment of their students!

 

[muttywhitedog]

Sometimes it's more about working conditions than pay and holiday. Schools expect teachers to work an extra 30+ hours a week due to poor resourcing and scandalous account keeping... I personally know of someone who was just trying to help a SEN child get a placement after regulations said by law they had to give him a placement and they fired her for reporting them for illegally rejecting a disabled child! All because it would cost them more money...

A lot of schools make rules, regulations & judgements that are not in favour of the children or teachers. Just like the nurses/doctors striking for better care for their patients, the teachers are striking for better treatment of their students!

Course they are - so why dont they accept a 0% pay rise and all the money goes to the resources budget instead? If every teacher didnt get a 10% rise, then there could be 10% more teachers.

 

[muttywhitedog]

I attended a union meeting today where our reps asked us to give an indication of what we thought on 5% and £1500. 80% were in favour of accepting it, and although it was one meeting of many this week, it gives me hope that this battle is now over and we (the union) can move on.

 

[Rocket_Ronster]

Course they are - so why dont they accept a 0% pay rise and all the money goes to the resources budget instead? If every teacher didnt get a 10% rise, then there could be 10% more teachers.

Or...staff could accept a 0% pay rise and Sir Philip Green (other despicable counts are available) could buy a fourth super yacht.

What the peasants need to understand, while they're lazing at the food bank, is how embarrassing it is turning up to Monaco in last year's boat.

 

[muttywhitedog]

Or...staff could accept a 0% pay rise and Sir Philip Green (other despicable counts are available) could buy a fourth super yacht.

What the peasants need to understand, while they're lazing at the food bank, is how embarrassing it is turning up to Monaco in last year's boat.

Why would Phil Green (or anyone for that matter) get a yacht out of the school budget? If well-paid teachers are striking because of a lack of resources, then giving them the resources ends the dispute.

 

[muttywhitedog]

I attended a union meeting today where our reps asked us to give an indication of what we thought on 5% and £1500. 80% were in favour of accepting it, and although it was one meeting of many this week, it gives me hope that this battle is now over and we (the union) can move on.

Ok - final update on this, as the new pay award was announced on Friday for Home Office staff.

AA - 12% rise
AO - 10.9%
EO - 9%
HEO - 7.9%

There were other rises for SEO, G7, G6, but I stopped reading at my grade - all were above 5% though, possibly due to bringing us onto a similar salary as other Civil Service Depts (I know that both MOD and DWP CS got paid more than Home Office CS).

Its been a slog, but its been worth it to see the lowest paid members of my team get a double digit pay rise and a £1500 lump sum in their pay at the end of this month.

 

[Downsizer]

That certainly looks a generous award....

 

[Deltaitem]

If you hadn't shown collective action and took it to the man, I bet you'd have got a lot, lot less. It's funny how the money is somehow available once the workers unite. It's a similar story in my neck of the woods, and I'm sure that if we'd held out for more, we'd have got more. This last year especially has shown no better advertisement for joining a union!

 

[muttywhitedog]

That certainly looks a generous award....

Alternatively it could be seen that for the last 8 years home office staff have been short changed compared to DWP, HMRC, MOD, Land registry.

 

[Downsizer]

Alternatively it could be seen that for the last 8 years home office staff have been short changed compared to DWP, HMRC, MOD, Land registry.

Maybe, my comment wasn't a critisicm of the award.

 

[Talk Wrench]

This last year especially has shown no better advertisement for joining a union!

Believe it or not, I'm in a union and although it's left leaning, it doesn't rain hard left dogma upon the paying membership. In fact, it accepts that people have different views and does not have a one size fits all within the scope of the industry it represents. It also considers militancy as counterproductive and does not align with political parties.

There's been no need for strikes and by being sensible, it always brings the management and the workforce together with successful conclusions by being an independent arbiter between both.

It's a model that works.

 

[Deltaitem]

Tell that to the British government, they didn't get the memo.

 

[Talk Wrench]

Tell that to the British government, they didn't get the memo.

Perhaps you should tell the unions that their left wing, must have socialism at all costs views are not in line with what the vast majority want. Perhaps it's the unions in the UK that haven't got the memo?

 

[Deltaitem]

I'm not sure that you've actually spoken with too many UK trade unionists.