Strike to close Rotherham schools

The vast majority of the 42,000 pupils at the borough’s 123 schools could be told to stay at home as more than 1,000 teachers across Rotherham hold a one-day strike, according to union sources.

The action is part of nationwide action in protest at Government plans to cut the pensions of civil servants and public sector workers.

The Government claims that current “generous” public sector pensions are unsustainable and insists that strike action is unnecessary as negotiations are going ahead.

But around 750,000 members of the NUT, ATL and UCU education unions are staging coordinated action alongside the PCS civil service workers’ union against the cuts.

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NUT representative at Rawmarsh Community School, Ralph Dyson, who led 11 days of strikes to stop compulsory redundancies earlier this year, added: “It is clear the Government has no intention of continuing negotiations in a serious and open manner.

“Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, announced we must pay 50 per cent more and then, when we retire at between 66 and 68, our pension will be indexed only to the lower Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.

“In other words, there is no shift in the Government’s position.

TEACHERS LIKE ME WON'T BE ABLE TO STAY IN THE PROFESSION . . . the view from Rotherham's classrooms. SEE THIS WEEK'S ADVERTISER.