Teachers and support staff at Roedean School in Brighton were on strike today (May 6) for the first time in the school鈥檚 history after last minute negotiations failed.
Members of the National Educational Union (NEU) at the historic cliff-top girls鈥 school are taking strike action over threatened redundancies, pay cuts and changes to the Teachers鈥 Pension Scheme.
Further action is due to take place tomorrow (May 7), then on May 13, 14, 15 鈥 although a strike expected last week was called off at the eleventh hour.
Roedean鈥檚 governors have proposed a cap on the school鈥檚 contribution to the Teachers鈥 Pension Scheme to 22 per cent, with teachers asked to make up the shortfall to 28.68 per cent through their wage packets. The union described an option to move to a proposed private defined contribution scheme as 鈥渋nferior鈥.
Commenting on the situation, Phil Clarke, NEU regional secretary said: 鈥淚t is with regret that members feel they have no alternative, but to take strike action this week. Our members do not take strike action lightly; indeed, this is the first strike in the school鈥檚 history.
“We have put, what we feel are fair and balanced proposals to the employer to save jobs, pay and preserve teachers鈥 pension benefits, but these have been rejected. We are calling on the employer to improve their proposals for when we are due to meet later this week鈥
A statement from Roedean School today said: 鈥淲e regret that our offer to compromise with the union has been rejected and that some of our staff will be taking strike action.
“The school has put in place a comprehensive plan to ensure the impact on our students is kept to an absolute minimum.聽 We remain open to discussing our proposals further with colleagues and working together towards a constructive resolution to this matter.鈥
