Here we go.
I’m off in half an hour. My comrades and I are going to march…all 1 in 10 of us teachers in this city apparently, so clearly it’s already a phenomenal success. Well fine, I hope 9 in 10 of us turn down any payrise that’s offered. Not that it will be but that’s not the point! I’m meeting a colleague at the rendezvous point, and have been advised to decline any requests to hold the end of a banner (wind catches them and they rip your arms off apparently) or a placard (feels great for mile and then you just want to ditch it). Anyway, I need my hands free to punch the air and shout dramatically.
I’m taking with me a satchel (yes, satchel) containing:
My camera to document the uprising.
A cagoule (essential for any teacher)
A sketchbook and pencils as I intend to go to an amour collection afterwards. I met the curator over the weekend and want to go and see all the boss gear on display.
I might hang around in town, some mates are meeting after work so depending on what time they meet I might loiter, if it’s late I won’t. I can’t see this rally going on for very long. Since most of my colleagues in this city appear to be in other unions (fair play) or FUCKING SCABS I think we’ll be a bit thin on the ground. Still, it’s my first rally/march so I’m jolly excited.
Right, I’m off to fill some wine bottles with petrol.
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*crosses fingers and hopes for banana republic-style police crackdown*
Ha ha! Fantastic! No doubt that’s the best thing ever written. Meanwhile, readers of this swindling layabout might be interested to know that I’m offering you the chance to win a Spitfire. That’s fucking right! A SPITFIRE! All you have to do is crack the riddles I’ll be posting in the next few days, and you, too, could be reaching for the skies like legless, but not drunk, flying ace, Douglas Bader. With that name on board, if you don’t enter my competition, you’re no better than Adolf Eichmann.
http://bpperry3.blogspot.com/
Now I’m all in favour of strikes, the less days spend at work the better and all that, hell I was a black hearted trade union official back in the good old days when the cry of “everybody out” would ring across the building every Friday pay day at 11am, when the pubs opened. That’s after holding a committee meeting at 6am in the Penny Black for a few pints of whisky. But.
Why were teachers on strike again?
They get several months holidays a year, fling in a ‘training day’ whenever the wee shites are getting boisterous, then release a bunch of illiterate monkeys out into the world who literally (if the Cowgate on students only night is anything to by) don’t know their arses from their elbows.
And these are the illiterate monkeys who, unfit for real work, see a starting salary of £19,161 to £28,005, depending on qualifications, prior relevant experience and the responsibilities of the post, and think “that’ll do for me, thank you very much. This way I can use all my ‘mad skillz’ (the kids’ll like that) to breed more illiterate monkeys.”
And if they manage not to get killed or arrested for diddling the kiddies, their pay can go up to £33,444!
Cheesus, on a skills to money ratio, that would make Mr Perry a baboonillionaire! Gits, the lot of them.
A fair question. Basically, we went on strike not for more pay, but for pay in line with inflation. Because of the three year pay deal, if inflation increases (which it will, maybe by quite a bit) we will see an ‘erosion’ of our pay packets. There’s a bit of misinformation going around on all sides, which is normal in these sorts of situations I suppose. The average teacher probably does not earn over 33K a year. Most will earn in the twenties, I suspect that magic figure was produced by the govt after they looked at teachers on Inner London wages and the average has been pushed up by taking people like head teachers into account.
More pay? No. Fair pay? Yes. I would not like to be a newly qualified teacher trying to pay off my debts with a salary of less than 20K with a pay increase below the rate of inflation. Remember, a teacher’s day does not start at nine and end at four, and fairly new teachers (and many experienced ones) work over the weekends to keep up.
And yes, the holidays are nice. Can’t really deny that. Having said that, spend seven or eight weeks in a row with over 30 children and believe me, you need the holiday to avoid committing manslaughter.