Staff at several schools in Coventry are about to start nine days of strike action. It has been confirmed that members of the National Education Union (NEU) and NASUWT at the Coventry School Foundation will start the walk out tomorrow morning (January 9).
This includes picket lines at Bablake Primary and Secondary Schools and King Henry VIII primary and secondary schools. There are a further eight further strike days pencilled in across this month.
Unions say they are in dispute with their employer over a number of issues including the alleged removal of all teacher members from the Teachers Pension Scheme.
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They also claim there is a threat to ‘fire and rehire’ teaching staff and they say that teachers face a pay cut due to claimed reduced pension contributions.
“We are seriously concerned about the education provision in the CSF schools, as such a damaging proposal will make retention of teachers and recruitment of new teachers very difficult,” said Christopher Denson, National Executive Member at the National Education Union (NEU).
“We have major concerns that years of mismanagement of finances is leading to teachers across the foundation facing detrimental cuts totalling over £1.2m a year. We firmly believe that the proposed measures are not only unfair, but are both short-sighted and damaging, leading to an erosion of the educational offer to students.”
CoventryLive has contacted the Coventry School Foundation for comment.