Last week saw Durham teaching assistants take two days of strike action over unfair cuts to their pay.
Durham County Council want to move teaching assistants onto term time only contracts, and asked teaching assistants to agree to a pay cut of up to 23%. When UNISON teaching assistants, the vast majority of whom are women, refused to accept the proposal, the Council gave notice to dismiss them from their current contracts and re-engage them on the new contracts with the pay cut. The council recently made the decision to punish UNISON members by withdrawing the two year compensation payment offered to other teaching assistants.
On the second day of strike action we organised a protest outside Durham County Hall where we estimate nearly 1500 people attended. There were members as far as the eyes could see! The amount of public support for this strike was fantastic with the crowd cheering after every toot of a car horn.
Durham TA UNISON members staying energised despite the cold! #ValueUs @unisontweets @DurhamUNISON pic.twitter.com/YY9B1GM7wH
— Northern UNISON (@NorthernUNISON) November 9, 2016
Afterwards we had a rally at the Durham Miners Association at Redhills, where it was standing room only and we still couldn’t fit everyone it. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that for a single group of workers, it rivalled some of the national campaigns we have been involved in. The strength of feeling in this dispute runs deep with our members, who won’t be beaten by Durham County Council.
We were joined by UNISON’s Assistant General Secretary Liz Snape, General Secretary Dave Prentis. Durham teaching assistants heard Dave say “If this council believes they can starve you back into work they have another thing coming.”
“We will not have our members threatened with dismissal when they are standing up for their rights.”
Dave reassured our members we are here for the long haul promising £150,000 contribution to the hardship fund.
Full house at Redhills for the Durham TA rally. #ValueUs pic.twitter.com/egooMe8yw4
— Northern UNISON (@NorthernUNISON) November 9, 2016
With all that said and done the true stars of the day were the teaching assistants, they came out in force to show Durham County Council that this isn’t going away, we are so proud of our teaching assistant members in Durham for their strength and resilience during this difficult dispute.
The council claims that this is about equal pay and that other authorities have made these changes. Durham teaching assistants’ pay is lower than some others working in surrounding authorities and UNISON is determined to stand with teaching assistants to achieve a fairer and better deal.
Our next step is to plan further strike action and we will continue to work with our members and announce further dates soon.
Clare Williams
