Striking for the future of the profession!
On Wednesday there will be many an educational professional wrestling with their conscience. Do I strike to make the only protest I have against the cuts to my pension and the financial well being of my family or do I go in and make sure that my kids at school get the best that I can offer as a teaching professional.
This is the mindset of the vast majority of education professionals and within that term I capture all those dedicated public servants who work in schools.
As the strike nears the government are getting ever more desperate in their attempts to gain the public sympathy vote. The trouble is that we, as public servants are the public! By doing so their rhetoric becomes increasingly confrontational. The Unions don't want a stand off despite what Maude, Alexander and Cameron think but aggressive and confrontational rhetoric damages the relationship with the Unions and working people who know the truth about what the government are trying to do and could take years to rebuild. Essentially they are playing Russian roulette with the future of public services and industrial relations.
What the government are proposing is to charge public servants up to £200 per month more for their pensions. The incentive for this is the privilege of being able to work til we're 68 and the abolition of the final salary scheme which is advantageous because