Luton strikes: teachers and unions "running out of hope" over pay and funding dispute

Teachers in Luton have joined in with national strikes today (February 1).

The decision follows ongoing disputes over pay and funding with the government, leaving many across the country feeling that “enough is enough”.

Union members gathered outside of Luton’s Town Hall and marched to Market Hill for a noon rally. Parents and members of the public were encouraged to bring pre-loved books to donate to charity and to find out first-hand why teachers and members of different unions in Luton decided to strike.

Paul Goodchild, a teacher from Icknield High School, said: “We’re here because we’re frustrated. We’ve had 13 years of false promises, broken promises, underfunded educations and our schools are suffering, our students are suffering, we’re running out of teachers and support staff, we’re running out of hope and this is our chance to finally say that enough is enough.

“We can’t do this anymore, it’s not fair to our children. I absolutely feel for them missing education, they’ve had a horrific time over the last few years. We’re worried about the future of education, to be honest. We can’t get the maths and physics teachers, and subject areas are really struggling. They need to listen to us.”

Ian Stone, who works for a local secondary school, said: “The five per cent pay rise is derisory, we have had nothing but one per cent over the last 10 years - but the real insult is the fact that the pay rise is being expected to be taken out of existing school budgets. That is wrong in itself, effectively depriving the kids even more than they have already been deprived over the last 10 years or so.

“I feel if we don’t strike, the effect on the children will be much worse in the long run. We need to stand up now and put in with the rest of the public sector because they’ve been treated abominably for the last 12 years of government.”

Watch the strike in action, in the video above

Hayley, who works in a Leighton Buzzard School, commented: “Teaching is an amazing profession and I want to see more young people getting into teaching, and they need to be paid appropriately in line with inflation and higher mortgage costs. I think as soon as people start to get paid properly, we’ll see more passionate people getting involved with teaching.

“I love working with kids, and it’s causing a lot of financial strain at the moment which it shouldn’t. It should be easier. It was a really hard decision today because it can be quite unsafe working conditions if there isn’t enough staff. There is a lot of pressure on SLT, children, and their parents - but, hopefully this can be done after just this one strike!”

A strike was also carried out by members of the PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union).

John and Theresa from the Luton Job Centre said: “The civil servants of the particular union and in our particular body are the lowest paid civil servants in government. Going back a couple of years ago, the country depended on people like us to get through the pandemic. We are now faced with these huge cost in living issues and we simply can’t get by. We want people to support us, and we want governments to be sensible about the way that they conduct negotiations and give us a decent pay rise – we deserve it.”