NEU rep Sean spoke to Martin Reynolds on the picket line
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) at Belmont Park school in Waltham Forest, London, are taking multiple days of action over numerous issues with the school leadership. Belmont Park is a small secondary school for students with social, emotional and mental health needs. Taking strike action can be a powerful way to draw together a workforce that the head is trying to divide.
We’re on strike over a number of issues, including jobs not being given out fairly, not being advertised. People feel they’ve been victimised, especially people in the union.
We’ve also had issues around our pay not being correct in terms of the tax code changing, which has led people to miss out on things like mortgages that they are in the process of planning, and other people on Universal Credit have been affected massively with the discrepancy in pay. On top of that, pensions haven’t been paid since May by the school, and people nearing retirement are finding that particularly stressful.
Things in school are becoming quite unsafe with staff numbers, amalgamation of classes to cover absence, and a management which has not engaged collegiately with the issues from the staff.
Most people feel that the headteacher has come in with an agenda. She’s made it very clear that certain people are not welcome and others are favourites.
Unfortunately the most experienced and most qualified staff members are the ones she’s decided to target. And the younger members, or more recent members, or agency members of staff who have more precarious employment, feel intimidated, and they are the people that she tries to use.
People who have a voice, or have union representation, or experience, and are very confident in what they do, they’re the enemy. So it has created a huge divide in the school and I think that is on purpose, sewing division in order to achieve her goals.