by Clare Doyle, Hackney Socialist Party
On 5 November, teachers at BSix Sixth Form College in Hackney, east London, started a series of strikes over pay and conditions.
“Teachers in schools recently got a 5.5% salary increase and ours was just 2.5%”, one striker explained. “We suffer intolerable workloads and a new top-down management since the college has been merged into the New City College conglomerate”. Staff complain that they are constantly working “for free” in the evenings and over weekends, marking and preparing.
In the second week of their action they were striking for two days and, if no improvements are offered, they will be out for three days the next week. As one of the striking teachers at BSix put it, they are prepared to suffer “short-term pain for long-term gain”.