Shrewsbury Sixth Form staff in strike action
Tuesday 21st June 2011, 3:28PM BST.
Shropshire’s biggest A-level centre is to close this Thursday when union members strike over funding cuts, it was announced today, as workers also protest over job losses at the college.
Members of the National Union of Teachers at Shrewsbury Sixth Form College are also protesting over the “ruthless” way they claim the cuts in funding are being managed.
The union says that as a result of the management’s decision to restructure the college, a highly experienced teacher and student leader who has been employed at the centre for 16 years, is being made compulsorily redundant.
“This is unacceptable to members of the NUT,” a union statement said today.
“In addition to this, many other experienced and valued staff have taken ‘voluntary’ redundancy to avoid compulsory redundancy.”
But the college says it is having to respond to a ten per cent cash cut in funding over the next three years.
It needs to save £625,000 and the restructuring will account for £450,000.
The vast majority – 14 out of 16 – of the redundancies have been through voluntary means.
The statement from the NUT, which has more than 40 members at the college, said: “This whole process has led to substantial levels of stress and anxiety for a significant number of staff.”
Martin Ward, principal, said: “I understand why staff feel upset by these changes and the need to express their feelings.
“Any disruption to teaching and learning is regrettable.”
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Big deal, three people where my other half works have been made redundant thanks to council cuts.
Could we have an inkling of the salary of this member of staff? It would be interesting to make a comparison with equable qualifications and I know what the job is like, my son has just finished there.
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Yes it is a big deal actually!! The majority of staff losing their jobs are support staff and earn minimum wage so its not all about the teaching staff for once. This is more about the way the cuts have been made so i would be grateful for a little sympathy being as though your other half has experience too!!!
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‘The vast majority – 14 out of 16 – of the redundancies have been through voluntary means’ … doesn’t that mean that they were offered a package and have taken it ‘voluntarily’? Does it matter whether the roles that have gone are teachers or support? People have choice and have made a personal decision. Frankly, there are bigger fights to be had.
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What a surprise! Some of the lecturers there are further left than Stalin. Pure ideological rabble rousing. Let’s hope for those rain clouds!
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Well done! It’s about time someone stood up to the government. The con/dems think that they can get away with cutting our jobs, wages and services. We all need to stand together to stop them.
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It’s about time someone stood up to the public sector.
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If it is support staff on the minimum wage, worker then there is no problem, plenty of jobs and endless overtime in the care industry.
You can have shed loads of sympathy but not if you proceed to damage the service we have already paid for to our children.
People with disabilities are the victims of the cuts associated with my partner’s job that he has held for more than a decade.
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I fully sympathise with your partners circumstance being in a similar situation myself so i find your opinion somewhat selfish. And how would support staff at SSFC have the qualifications to be care staff when they have over 15 years experience in a college environment? The only people damaging service to the students is the goverment and management of the college by making job cuts!!
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I worked as support staff in schools for many years before having my family. I have NVQ 3 qualifications in childcare.
The problems finding work in that area has mean’t I am now working in the care industry which is always short of staff despite many overseas workers filling posts.
My partner has suffered from the council cuts though does not directly work for this council but has worked in Birmingham and Sandwell & Dudley.
He worked one end of a school where the staff went home at 3pm whilst he and fellow professionals had to work on.
I have just had 3 children come through state education including the 6th form and the mind boggles at the audacity they have to complain, especially when private and public employees are having the same cuts thrown at them.
I find your problem with the career change slightly odd as support staff are sometimes employed for young people with disabilities who need personal care. I did it myself.
The job entails following instructions so is no more onerous than shop work, customer care applies to all support type work at the end of the day.
The care industry always provide training and the reason there are always posts available is that it is very hard, demanding work with long hours. For some reason school staff always seem to think that they are the hardest workers in existance.
I believe that these strikers are selfish, withdrawing their services and disrupting lessons that taxpayers have already paid for.
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Just a few thoughts…
1. The average life expectancy for a male teacher who retires at 68 is only 70, due to the stresses of the job.
2. If bright, talented young prospects who want to become teachers are put off by the idea of:
A) Working for longer
B) Paying more every month of their working lives for the PRIVILEGE of working longer
C) Receiving LESS at the end over the course of their pension for having worked longer…and paid more…
…then…they will of course NEVER become teachers in the first place.
In this case, who will teach the pupils of the future?
3. Regarding the comments about “Already having paid for these lessons through tax”. Please remember that unions membership is NOT illegal, and is there to protect the rights of all workers. Also, this is only ONE day, not a lifetime of missed lessons. Finally, as teachers, WE pay our tax too, so we have the right to protest as to how it is being wasted in so many areas, while not being spent on the areas that matter most. (Notably Health and Education)
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