Report from Montgomery Primary School Strike

This report is from December’s strike, If you’re looking for information about January’s strike please click here

Teachers and school support staff, went on strike today at Montgomery Primary School in Sparkbrook against their school becoming an Academy.
The three Trade Unions at the school, National Union of Teachers (NUT), NAS/UWT and the GMB, all voted to strike as their voices were not being heard.

They were strongly supported by the parents. One Parent, who has children at the school said

I went to this school myself and want it to remain in the local authority and for this community. Who knows what could happen if it was taken out of local control?

Another parent said,

Now, parents and teachers have a say in the governing body. If it became an academy we would not have any rights to influence decisions about our children’s education.

The picket at the school from 7.30-9pm was very well supported at least 60 staff, parents and members of the community were there. It was lively, friendly and good fun with plenty of chanting, flag waving. The picket was supported by the Anti Academy Birmingham Alliance and the Birmingham Trades Union Council. Congratulations to all who participated. I was certainly proud to be
amongst people who cared so much about the future of education and their community. We wish Montgomery School and its caring community success in their campaign against becoming an academy.

Mary Pearson, retired teacher (NUT) and Vice President of Birmingham Trades Union Council

(For further information re Academies see: http://antiacademies.org.uk )

See also Anti-Academies Alliance report on the strike, with more photos and video

Birmingham UNISON to strike on 21st September

Unison on strike on 30th June

At our meeting on Thursday, Graeme Horn said that Unison council workers will take further strike action during the Liberal Democrat party conference, over the imposition of a new contract that cuts pay and worsens conditions for council workers in Birmingham. He have details of the part cuts faced by workers, including one person losing over £2,000 of their £14,000 salary, and another facing a huge £4,000 cut from their £19,000 salary. We have previously reported on the contract changes, click here to find out more about why these workers are taking industrial action
We enourage everyone to show your support for our council workers and the services they provide by attending a picket line, or commenting here to let council workers know that you support them.

The following is copied from Birmingham UNISON newsletter

Stop the Martini Contract, Stop the Pay Cuts

Next One Day Strike Wednesday 21st September

It is now time to step up our campaign against the new Birmingham Contract. We have called a one day strike on the last day of the national Liberal Democrat Party conference on Wednesday 21st September. The Lib-Dems in Birmingham are part of the council’s Con-Dem Coalition. Birmingham is their flagship council. This is a unique chance to show the country what they are doing in Birmingham. we expect to get massive publicity for our dispute and to put huge political pressure on the Lib-Dems to back down.

This time we expect to be joined by the council’s second largest union, GMB, who are balloting as we go to print, and by UCATT.

We are organising a mass members meeting on the day of the strike. We want to talk to all of you, our members, about where we go next. We have more strikes planned and we are also arranging for the mass lobbying of councillors surgeries and public constituency meetings.

This is a dispute we can win if we all strike, lobby and campaign together.

Timetable for the day:

7am to 10am – Picket your workplace

10.30am to 11.30am – Lobby the Lib Dem conference, Centenary Square (ICC)

12 noon – mass members meeting

Final speaker list for tomorrows meeting

FIGHTING  THE  CUTS

Speakers:

JOHN LISTER  on fighting Lansley’s Health Bill and the dismemberment of the NHS

ALEX KENNY on fighting the proposals to make workers work longer and pay more for a lower pension

VICI WHITALL & BRIAN CLARKE on fighting the plans to privatise Birmingham prison

CAROLINE JOHNSON on fighting the imposition of the new ‘Martini’ contract which would dramatically worsen pay and conditions

JACK DROMEY MP on the Labour Party’s Alternative

Chair: Sandra Carter GMB Union

plus discussion from the floor

7.30 pm

Tomorrow, The Council Chamber, Birmingham Council House, Victoria Square

Facebook Event

10 Reasons to demonstrate on Saturday

Why should you come to the demonstration on Saturday against the council cuts? There are lots of reasons, but here are 10 of them:

1) Job Losses – 2,450 council posts will be cut this year (7,000 over 3 years) and 5,000 posts privatised (making it easier to cut funding in the future).  Birmingham already has an unemployment rate twice the national average and cannot afford to lose thousands more jobs.

2) Adult Care Services – 11,000 people who currently receive care having been assessed as having “substantial” care needs will no longer be eligible for home care, day care or residential care and will lose their care services.  Overall, more than £33million will be cut from Adult Care Services, affecting older people, those with learning and physical disabilities and people with mental health problems.

3) Youth Services – £3m will be cut from Birmingham Youth Services budgets.   Such a cut would close over 40 youth projects (more than 2/3rds) across the city and deprive young people and communities easy access to trained and qualified youth workers.

4) 1,600 jobs to go at Heart of England PCT, affecting NHS services in this city, and this is only 1 of 5 PCT’s to serve Birmingham so there will probably be more job losses to come.

5) Neighbourhood Office and CAB closures – CAB has been temporarily saved but neighbourhood offices are still under threat.  Both of these provide vital and free advice on financial, legal & housing problems and council services.  As unemployment rises, these services will become more important.

6) £10 million cuts in Childrens Social Care, affecting “looked after” children, some of the most vulnerable children in the city

7) £1.3 million cuts in library services, £1 million cuts in grants to arts and £1.25 million cuts in funding for Museums with entry charges “almost decided”.  Ikon Eastside will be closing, and this will probably just be the first of many cultural venues in Birmingham to shut down.

8 ) Pay Cuts and terms and conditions reviews for 26,000 council staff including refuse workers who have already been on strike.

9) £1.6m less spending on Community Safety Partnership, and reduction in funding for West Midlands Police Force (2,200 jobs to be lost, including 600 officers) will see rising crime

10) There are alternatives. False Economy maintain a nice collection of alternatives, including closing the tax gap, a robin hood tax on the bank, green jobs for growth and other solutions to the deficit problem and banking crisis that will not involve huge spending cuts in vital areas.

Of course there are many more than 10 reasons to march on Saturday against the council cuts.  These cuts will affect every person in this city, and every person has their own reason to come.

Then on Tuesday, the council meets to vote on the budget.  There will be a demonstration outside the council house, here are 10 more reasons to demonstrate on Tuesday

The demonstration assembles at 12 noon, Birmingham Cathedral, St. Philips Place.

We will have a short march around Birmingham City Centre, followed by a rally with the following speakers:

Bishop Urquhart (Bishop of Birmingham);

Lee Barron (CWU);

Trudy Allen (PCS);

Roger Jenkins (GMB);

James Smith (UCU);

Roger MacKenzie (Unison) and

Caroline Johnson (Birmingham Against the Cuts).

More speakers to be confirmed

Speakers for Rally on Sat 26th Feb Announced

Birmingham Against the Cuts and Unison have announced speakers for the rally as part of the Say No To Council Cuts demonstration to be held on Saturday.

Bishop Urquhart (Bishop of Birmingham);

Lee Barron (CWU);

Trudy Allen (PCS);

Roger Jenkins (GMB);

James Smith (UCU);

Roger MacKenzie (Unison);

Bob Findlay-Williams (Disabled People Against the Cuts), and

Caroline Johnson (Birmingham Against the Cuts).

More speakers to be confirmed

The demonstration assembles at 12 noon, at Birmingham Cathedral, St. Philips Place, Birmingham.  There will be a march around the city centre followed by a rally back at the Cathedral.

This demonstration will call for councillors to vote against cuts at the council meeting on 1st March.  The planned cuts will see £212m slashed from the council budgets this year, at the cost of 2,450 jobs and many services, such as adult care services and youth centres.

Facebook event for 26th Feb

Facebook event for 1st March

Sign our petition against council cuts, to be presented to the council by Cllr Salma Yaqoob on 1st March

And most importantly, come along on Saturday and Tuesday to make sure councillors know that Birmingham does not support these cuts, does not think that redundancies will help a city with high unemployment, and is not happy to see vital services to the people of Birmingham being closed or reduced.

GMB, Unite, Unison and UCATT Binmen strike

On Monday 20th December, Birmingham’s binmen held a 24hr strike over £4,000 paycuts.  This will be followed by a two week work to rule action.

GMB, Unite, Unison and UCATT members took part in picket lines held at refuse collection depots in Birmingham.

The picket lines began at 4:45am, and at Lifford Lane temperatures were as low as Minus 9 degrees.  There have been no reports of the picket lines being crossed, after Birmingham City Council had sought to employ temporary staff to break the lines.

More reports and information to follow

Solidarity