Solidarity & Support the mighty Durham TA Lions on strike on 23/24 November

Latest press release from CDTAAC Committee 

County Durham Teaching Assistants set to take further strike action against council plan to sack and re-engage with 23% pay cut

Today (16th November 2016) County Durham Teaching Assistants Activists Committee (CDTAAC) have announced that County Durham Teaching Assistants will be taking further strike action on 23rd and 24th November following Durham County Council’s failure to withdraw plans to sack 2700 teaching assistants and impose a 23% pay cut on re-engaged staff.

Strike action will include further picketing of schools and another mass demonstration, full details of which will be released nearer the time.

#ValueUs Campaign organiser and Teaching Assistant Helen Pace said:

Our previous industrial action was an extremely successful measure of the phenomenal support from peers and parents.
It is essential for the integrity of our profession that further strike action be taken so that we can move forward with that concrete sense of solidarity.

This decision is not one that has been taken lightly, but when we have seen how much others value us, it is only fair that our employers do too.

We simply ask to be re-graded to mitigate our losses and have never asked for more.

County Durham Teaching Assistants Activists Committee member Lisa Turnbull said:

As a profession we want to be in schools teaching and supporting the children we dedicate our working lives to, but we also want to be able to put food on the table for our own children.

We are deeply disappointed at their determination to push ahead with a decision which will not only devastate the future education of our children in schools, but also the families of Teaching Assistants.

Nobody looks forward to strike action, but yet again the council have left us with no choice through their failure to come back to the table and there is no going back now unless they immediately put plans in place to re-grade all staff.

ENDS