All out all for November 10th strike: defend pay, defend education, strike for the lost generation.
***Update: John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor confirmed speaker for London rally***
Please see attached strike flyer. Please distribute through your networks.
UCU has called a national strike for November 10th. Next Tuesday. Let’s go all to build it and make it a success.
We are striking to demand a pay increase after 6 years of real terms cuts and a 0% pay offer this year – a freeze on pay.
Our claim for £1 per hour extra for all would be a first step in restoring pay, and toward parity with school teachers.
We are told pay cuts are a necessary consequence of funding cuts to the sector. Cuts that have seen adult education decimated, 1.4m adult places have been lost and hundreds of thousands of young people face years of joblessness. This is a scandal.
Now the whole of FE is in jeopardy as a programme of area reviews and mergers are planned to break up the 300 colleges into as few as 70.
This has to stop. We need a mass campaign to save further education and restore funding and pay to the sector. The strike on the 10th can be part of that broader campaign.
On the day of the strike Birmingham and London are holding rallies and protests. Details on the flyer.
The 10th of November also coincides with the third reading of the anti-trade Union bill. Legislation that will make it virtually impossible to strike legally. Let’s ensure we do everything between now and Tuesday to maximise participation on the day. Because the best way to defend the right to strike – is to strike!
John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor, has confirmed he is speaking at the London rally. The rally will be followed by a march on the department of Business Innovation and Skills to demand a pay rise and stand up for FE.
Please tweet photos on the strike and invite local press to pickets.