J30 strike: NUT, PCS, UCU, ATL call for a general strike on June 30th

[spanglechick]

Anyone here know what schools usually do to get around strikes if they think they can keep the school open? At the moment I don't think enough members in my school will strike to close it if the school gets in cover.

put as many kids as you can get in the hall and show them a film. Rotate with a group in the library doing silent reading and all the rest of the staff in the PE area keeping staff ratios up so that a third cohort can do PE activites. That's the most staff-effective strategy... but there need to be enough staff onsite to be safe at break and lunch too.

edit - if you're only losing a few staff, class sizes will just increase across the school.

 

[grogwilton]

What kind of ratios does a school need then? We'll have about 1/6 of teaching staff out pending some last minute comers.

 

[BigTom]

I'm going to give my branch a ring tomorrow and see. i know I haven't received any ballot papers up to now, which is logical as they had no idea I was a BCC employee

but i guess the question is whether i've left it too late :s

Well the ballot's still open so I wouldn't have thought so, just be sure to call them tomorrow

 

[ernestolynch]

NAS bollockses

 

[Fedayn]

PCS in !

You mean PCS 'out'?!

 

[Voley]

I've just joined Unison. It only took them five months to process my application. Haven't received any confirmation from them or anything, just the deduction from my wages. With these levels of efficiency I'm imagine we'll be joining you in coordinated strike action sometime in the next century.

 

[krink]

I've just decided to leave unison. I think my 10 quid a month is better in my kids' bellies. if there was a strike at work i would join in anyway and unison is pathetic. are there any decent unions for council workers? most at my place are unison and a few in the utter shite scabby gmb.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

I've just decided to leave unison. I think my 10 quid a month is better in my kids' bellies. if there was a strike at work i would join in anyway and unison is pathetic. are there any decent unions for council workers? most at my place are unison and a few in the utter shite scabby gmb.

Unison is the best one. if you're not happy with your branch why not get active and change things?

 

[krink]

No offence intended but if unison is the best one then I think I'd be better off out of it! For me, Unison are the same as the labour party - beyond repair.

 

[Guineveretoo]

A union is only as good as its local membership. It's all about people getting together locally to effect change, and then using the national and regional resources available to them. If Unison is the recognised union in your place, and there are other members there, then, as others have said, you would be best advised to get in there and sort it out at a local level.

It's certainly true that Unison suffers from being huge and cumbersome, and is overly bureaucratic as a consequence, but local decisions can be made swiftly and easily - you simply need to organise your work colleagues.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

Yep. In any union a decent steward or two can do quite a lot with the backing of their workmates. We really need to get away from the service provider model, unions are political organisations, members need to be as active as they can be.

 

[belboid]

I've just decided to leave unison. I think my 10 quid a month is better in my kids' bellies. if there was a strike at work i would join in anyway and unison is pathetic. are there any decent unions for council workers? most at my place are unison and a few in the utter shite scabby gmb.

Without being part of a union, they can, essentially, sack you for going on strike. And, as you're not a union member, ther's no reason why a union would then support your case. Yeah, Unison is pretty shit, nationally and frequently locally. But times like these are ones where its possible to shake a branch up, call a members meeting to get rid of the old lot if they aren't doing anything, or at least give them a kick up the arse. Sheffield Unison are currently bricking it over the campaign to make them actually do something, and I'm sure it isnt the only branch in that situation.

 

[Streathamite]

I believe they do. It's part of the justiication for the outrageousl 80% overhead they charge. They are the employer, not the client. It may vary by industry. Streathamite would know.

that's not my end of things, but by and large they don't, and 80% markups are practically unheard of in any part of the industry.

 

[Fedayn]

June 30th Strike Events

 

[The39thStep]

I've just decided to leave unison. I think my 10 quid a month is better in my kids' bellies. if there was a strike at work i would join in anyway and unison is pathetic. are there any decent unions for council workers? most at my place are unison and a few in the utter shite scabby gmb.

Not the best timing , three years of cuts and the pensions fight.If anything you should be recruiting to Unison not leaving

 

[ymu]

Not the best timing , three years of cuts and the pensions fight.If anything you should be recruiting to Unison not leaving

I dunno. If there's an exodus from the shit unions to the good ones, maybe they'll wake the fuck up.

PCS any good to you krink?

 

[ymu]

Still, nice of Alexander to blow his load so early. Should be a good turnout.

 

[The39thStep]

I dunno. If there's an exodus from the shit unions to the good ones, maybe they'll wake the fuck up.

PCS any good to you krink?

How can their be an exodus when only certain unions have bargaining rights? The issue is about being active and buidling in the branch or workplace not fannying off to look for some sort of 'red' union.

 

[frogwoman]

yep

 

[ymu]

How can their be an exodus when only certain unions have bargaining rights? The issue is about being active and buidling in the branch or workplace not fannying off to look for some sort of 'red' union.

True 'nuff. But most workplaces have more than one union recognised. People should vote with their feet, IMO.

 

[Guineveretoo]

Actually, most workplaces only have one union with recognition/negotiation rights. Workers really need to consolidate and work collectively, so the fewer unions the better. Divide and rule, and all that.

 

[ymu]

Railway workers have a choice, teachers have a choice, most public sector workers have a choice. They need to consolidate behind the unions that deliver. BW workers groan when you mention Unison, railway workers glow with pride when you mention the RMT.

 

[revol68]

Actually, most workplaces only have one union with recognition/negotiation rights. Workers really need to consolidate and work collectively, so the fewer unions the better. Divide and rule, and all that.

or fuck the official unions off, leave them as the empty shells of little use beyond legal protection for individuals, and organise across and against the trade unions and parasites.

 

[ymu]

Nah, strong unions are vital. They can't have too radical a political agenda cos industrial action is a numbers game, but neither do they have any excuse for settling into a comfortable slumber. Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka earn their wedge. Most of the rest need to start doing so too, and sharpish.

 

[revol68]

Nah, strong unions are vital. They can't have too radical a political agenda cos industrial action is a numbers game, but neither do they have any excuse for settling into a comfortable slumber. Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka earn their wedge. Most of the rest need to start doing so too, and sharpish.

strength and numbers aren't the same, the unions have millions of members and do fuck all, enthralled as they are to the labour party and it's career path for nice little bureaucrats. It is infact the size of the unions and their apparatus that has made them soo pointless, they are self perpetuating businesses, offering credit cards and the fucking like.

my ma was in Unison and to hear her rant about the useful self serving fucks you'd have swore she'd been stealing my ultra left pamphlets.

I wouldn't tell people to leave a union but neither would I tell them to have any illusions about who they fundamentally serve.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I am not convinced that being in thrall to the Labour party is the problem for unions, note least because unions which are not members of the Labour party are just as weak, if not more so, nor that they are self serving. The fact is, a union is only as active as its membership and if the membership won't act, then there is nothing that the leadership, locally or nationally, can do.

 

[ymu]

If they get a chance to act.

Large unions can't be that radical, because the membership won't be. But that doesn't mean they can't arm themselves poperly going into nepgotiations, like wot Bob does.

 

[Steel Icarus]

It's really starting to get on my fucking tits how the public sector is being demonised & accused of contributing nothing & full of sponging communists on the make.

 

[BigTom]

It's really starting to get on my fucking tits how the public sector is being demonised & accused of contributing nothing & full of sponging communists on the make.

Yeah, it's all softening up for the strikes.. whats been pissing me off as well is the "look how crap the private sector have it compared to the public sector" followed not by the obvious answer - make the private sector better - but the idiot (or bosses) answer - make the public sector worse..

 

[stethoscope]

Yep, some cunt was on the radio this morning arguing the usual race to the bottom shit - about how the pensions and working conditions between public and private sector employees 'had been able to become unequal' and that it was 'the public sector that should re-address this'. Christ almighty.