School picket lines this Thursday

[BornAgainSELondoner]

Attached is a list of schools in Southwark with NEU picket lines this Thursday (2 March). Loads in ED and its environs.

Most start at 7 but some at 7.30 - so 7.30-9 is the best time to visit.

Please pop down to one of your local schools and show them some love - even if just a flying visit.

Thank you

[CPR Dave]

Are these schools all going to be completely closed?

I think it would be utterly appalling to picket primary schools that are open to educate young children.

Can you give any assurance that your picket lines won't be intimidating young children trying to attend any of these schools that will open on Thursday?

[CPR Dave]

Even the timing seems targeted at parents and children. It looks very shoddy to me.

[malumbu]

Thanks for posting, I'll give some low key support when the opportunity arises, as well as praising a family member striking teacher.

[Galileo]

Are these schools all going to be completely closed?

I think it would be utterly appalling to picket primary schools that are open to educate young children.

Can you give any assurance that your picket lines won't be intimidating young children trying to attend any of these schools that will open on Thursday?

 

At Harris Primary ED the picket is at the front entrance used by teachers and staff. The kids go in through the gates at the rear.

As I understand it (I’m not a teacher) it’s understood by other staff (teachers in other unions) that the protest is aimed at the government and not at the other staff at the school.

[DuncanW]

Do you have kids who attend any of these schools?

If not, I wouldn't worry yourself about it :)

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Can you give any assurance that your picket lines won't be intimidating young children trying to attend any of these schools that will open on Thursday?

 

You really think teachers on Thursday are going to be intimidating the same children they teach every other day of the week? Give your head a wobble, mate.

[CPR Dave]

The OP is inviting all and sundry. Not teachers.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Yeah, it's gonna be just like Orgreave tomorrow when rabid mobs of flying pickets descend on a primary school. You want to watch out, I heard some of those maths teachers are tooled up with compasses!

🤣

[vladi]

I find picket lines lines highly offensive because they are designed to intimidate workers who want to get to work and get paid. Picketing is a relic going back to a more primitive era . Today's social media is a better way of getting one's views across.

In terms of progress, just think if the Tolpuddle Martyrs has been able to maintain the status quo.

[malumbu]

I expect you have never been on a picket line. I have, we handed out leaflets and to those interested explained our cause. Just up the road were the London Ambulance Service, around their brazier, picketing. I was jealous both of their brazier (it was freezing) and the hoots of support they were getting from motorists. I think that you are confusing 2023 with 1973.

But if you do want to go back in time, go back to pre first world war and the appalling conditions in many of our factories, the pits, the mills, with limited protection for workers, industrial accidents with no compensation from the employers, long working hours, little welfare etc etc. What a difference the trade union movement made. I'm proud to be a member.

[CPR Dave]

Dog Kennel Hill,

You might have had a point if the OP and the flyer attached were an invite only to teachers. But it is there to specifically encourage people who are not teachers to attend a picket.

And the list of picket lines includes schools which managed to stay open the last time there were strikes.

So it looks like an invitation for non-teacher strangers to attend schools that are going to be open at the same time parents trying to drop children off, which looks very shoddy to me. Very low rent indeed.

I note that the OP hasn't been back to address any of this either.

[vladi]

Yes, the OP is trying to reinforce picket lines with added numbers from outside the teaching staff. This is simply multiplying the intimidation that picket lines exhibit.

Stopping other teachers going to work through intimidation is a primitive and unacceptable practice.

We live in a free society and there is simply no justification for intimidation for someone who wants to enter their workplace.

Picketing by teachers outside schools is a shameful practice and one would think that the teachers organising this should be condemned unreservedly. Our kids education should be their prime consideration.

If they don't like the teacher's salary then they should get a job elsewhere. There's plenty other jobs going at present.

I can tell you first-first hand as I have a nephew who is a teacher, He has set up his own business, on the side, working out of rented premises where he offers courses and products. He has a very nice little earner there, which is also on-line, because he is innovative and willing to work hard.

By comparison the picket lines , in my view, are populated by those who are only willing to sit back, take the salary and whinge.

Edited March 1, 2023 by vladi

[alice]

You seem very angry about something that doesn’t seem to directly affect you.

The right to strike, to withhold your labour is what separates us from slavery.

[vladi]

The right to strike is fine but intimidating fellow workers by forming a picket line to harass fellow workers who want to work is abhorrent. Any form of harassment should be condemned. And any attempt to re-inforce the picket with 3rd parties should be deeply condemned. Edited March 1, 2023 by vladi

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

the picket lines , in my view, are populated by those who are only willing to sit back, take the salary and whinge.

1) You don't get to "take the salary" if you're on strike. That's how strikes work.

2) "teachers shouldn't complain about low pay because my teacher nephew doesn't mind working a second job" isn't the great argument you think it is.

[vladi]

@DKH,

Kindly don't re-work my words and then present them within quotation marks just to fit your argument.

[malumbu]

Back to my earlier post, you are confusing 2023 with 1973. Get some perspective.

[CPR Dave]

Actually Malumbu parents didn't care less about strangers being encouraged to turn up at schools in 1973.

In 2023 we don't want weirdos coming along to our schools to impose their views on our children uninvited.

It's you that needs to get with the times.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

In 2023 we don't want weirdos coming along to our schools to impose their views on our children uninvited.

So, to be clear, you have children attending one of these schools, is that what you're saying? And you're genuinely worried that "weirdos" are going to show up to primary school picket lines to "impose their views" on your children?

[BornAgainSELondoner]

Hello. OP here. Hadn't been on to address any of this before now. Ever so sorry about that. Hadn't realised my silence for a whole 26 hours would be seen as so controversial. I'm only going to say this one thing as I have neither the energy nor the inclination to be drawn into an argument about this here so forgive me if I don't reply again...

I posted the above flyer as I thought that some local people (especialy those without children at a local school) might not know about the picket lines but might be interested in visiting - not joining - the picket lines to show their support to those teachers on strike. (I'll not go into the reasons for the strike - it's in the smaller print on the flyer if you want to read more.)

But just to be clear: in those schools that are still open (or partially open) teachers will not be intimidating the children going into school. Teachers are not - as a rule - in the business of intimidating children.

These teachers are holding picket lines as a show of their strength of feeling and in an attempt to *peacefully persuade* - not intimidate - other colleagues to withdraw their labour (the law is very clear that attempts at peaceful persuasion are allowed*). It has absolutely nothing to do with attempting to stop the children going into school whatsoever.

The picket lines will be good natured and friendly (and as most are in residential areas, I imagine reasonably quiet affairs). Should you pop down you will likely receive a smile and a cheerful "good morning". If you wanted to speak to the teachers about their reasons for striking, I'm sure they'd gladly chat with you. And unless you find being politely handed a leaflet intimidating, I think you'll feel perfectly safe. But don't take my word for it: pop down to one. If you want to know your closest one, they're listed on the flyer above.

Solidarity with the strikers

---

* If you're interested, you can find this in Section 22 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 and in the government's Code of Practice on Picketing 2017.

[malumbu]

As per my first post, thank you very much for putting up the poster, and I expect most of us who go down will be doing exactly as you explained.

[Al-candraw]

Well done to all the parents, children and teachers who visited the picket lines this morning.

Rest assured no one was intimidated. Muffins were shared, flags were waved and our teachers were supported in asking for a fair wage. Which given they help shape our children’s future seems like the least we can do really.

[Rockets]

There was a picket at our kids' school some years ago and many of the children found it very upsetting, not because of any action by their teachers on the picket, but because they were confused as to why their teachers would be encouraging others not to enter the school and felt they were betraying their teachers by entering the school themselves. It's a very difficult one to get the balance right on as children, especially younger ones really can't comprehend what is going on. The school in question asked the picket to move away from the main gates and asked them not to make as much noise (whistles etc) as some of the children didn't like it. They did so and replaced it with very enthusiastic flag waving!

[vladi]