Lincolnshire and Newark teachers strike for the second time

Teachers across Lincolnshire and Newark are taking strike action for the second time with disruption expected to affect thousands of pupils.

The NEU is demanding a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise for teachers and support staff, and effective action on pay for supply and other educators.

The ballot result for strike action was announced on the 16th of January, followed by the first day of industrial action a few weeks later.

Now, taking place by region, the first regional day of strike action began yesterday, on February 28th, with schools in Northern, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber regions affected.

Today the Midlands will strike, with key rallies in Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham and Cambridge.

We spoke to the Lincolnshire Secretary of the National Education Union Ken Rustridge about how this time is different:

"We had the first day of strikes, which was really at a local level over the whole country, and, here, we had the rally in Lincoln.

"The next stage is taking out people across the country over the next four days, so it'll be the North, then the Midlands, then London and then the southwest. So, to take people out in different regions of the country, and then on the 15th and the 16th of March, there will be 2 days of strikes, which will be escalated with the plan on the 15th of March to have a big rally in London. So it's like gone; local, regional, national.

"I think the plan was, it's a strategy that was developed to really escalate and we really hope that the government sits down and talks.

"What we want is a talk and to really come to a solution, you know, to the the issues, which is really about the funding of schools, the pay of teachers and then the recruitment and retention crisis across the profession."

Ken continued to detail the issues in schools right now:

"Lincolnshire is a large rural county, you know, quite sadly, there are degrees of poverty, and the cost of things like for people to travel. Members are telling me about the prices of things in shops and how they really are worried about the children."

Strike action is expected to continue with Southern regions affected by strikes tomorrow and a national rally taking place in London as part of a 2 day strike, on the 15th and 16th of March - should no deal be made before then.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has said “Children deserve to be in school, and further strike action is simply unforgivable, especially after everything children have been through because of the pandemic.”