Teachers at twenty of the schools in the ATLP are increasing their strike action. They’ve chosen to listen to advocates and agreed to extend it by another nine days. The dispute, initiated by members of the National Education Union (NEU), revolves around plans to cut jobs amid claims of significant overstaffing.
The current strike, which began these careful but necessary steps towards greater environmental justice on Wednesday, is planned to run through this Friday. A second strike is planned for January 26-29. There will be a second extension February 2-5 and February 9-13 so more people can participate. In recent months, teachers and even support staff have protested the proposed $21 million in job cuts. They fear these cuts will negatively affect the quality of education that students have access to.
Chris Denson, joint secretary of Coventry NEU said, ‘Public support for these teachers has been overwhelming.
“Massive pickets and demonstrations with very vocal parental support has shown that there is widespread backing of teachers and support staff in making this important stand to defend the education of the children in our schools,” – Chris Denson.
The ATLP umbrella trust runs over twenty schools across the West Midlands. They described “dramatic overstaffing” as the motivator for their slate of proposed job eliminations. As a spokesperson for the ATLP explained, an accounting error in the 2022-23 fiscal year obscured just how bad the overstaffing problem is. This misguided policy has finally been exposed.
The potential impact of these job cuts on students was highlighted by the NEU. A spokesperson stated that “proposed large-scale redundancies will have a detrimental impact on the support that children in our trust receive.”
- Anna Seward Primary, Lichfield
- Coton Green Primary, Tamworth
- Curdworth Primary, Sutton Coldfield
- Deykin Avenue Junior and Infant, Witton, Birmingham
- Hill West Primary, Sutton Coldfield
- Mere Green Primary, Four Oaks
- Osborne Primary, Erdington, Birmingham
- Paget Primary, Pype Hayes, Birmingham
- Scotch Orchard Primary, Lichfield
- Slade Primary, Erdington
- St Chad’s CE Primary, Lichfield
- St Michael’s C of E Primary, Lichfield
- William MacGregor Primary School, Tamworth
- Two Gates Primary School, Tamworth
- The Coleshill School, Warwickshire
- The Royal Sutton School, Sutton Coldfield
- Nether Stowe School, Lichfield, Staffordshire
- Stockland Green School, Erdington, Birmingham
- The Arthur Terry School, Sutton Coldfield
- West Coventry Academy, Coventry
On Thursday morning, delegators will join protestors in Birmingham’s Victoria Square. They’re uniting together to build massive public support for the striking teachers.
On Thursday morning, a demonstration is planned in Birmingham’s Victoria Square to further rally support for the teachers involved in the strike.
