A Message to Parents

Teachers in the NUT and ATL unions have voted by huge majorities to take strike action to defend their pensions from Government cuts.

No teacher takes strike action lightly and we are sorry that children’s education will be disrupted.

However, the scale of the attacks on our pay and pensions has left us without any other choice.

THEY WANT TO STEAL OUR PENSIONS …
The Government wants to make teachers:
* PAY MORE: Take-home pay would be cut for many teachers by around £100 a month
* GET LESS PENSION: Government plans mean teachers could have their pensions cut in half
* RETIRE OLDER: They want to make teachers work until 67 or 68 to claim what they have earned

… TO HELP PAY FOR THEIR MISTAKES
If teachers are being asked to pay more into their pension scheme, why will they end up getting less when they retire? Because the extra money isn’t going to pay for pensions at all.

No, like the rest of the cuts, the Government wants to steal our money to help them pay off the bankers’ gambling debts. They want to impose an extra ‘tax’ on teachers while the speculators who got us into this mess get away with billions in unpaid taxes.

THESE CUTS ARE BAD FOR EDUCATION
Forcing teachers to work on until they are 68 cannot be good for education. How can it be right to leave grandparents in front of classes while school leavers and young graduates struggle to find a job?

Pensions are one of the benefits that attract qualified graduates into teaching. Attacks on pensions will do the opposite. We need high quality schools and public services, not cuts and privatisation.

SO LET’S UNITE TOGETHER AGAINST THE CUTS
We know that many parents and other trade unionists are facing exactly the same robbery. Whether it’s your benefits, your job, your local library or hospital, we’re all being asked to pay for a crisis that was none of our making. We also know that these cuts to our jobs, pay and pensions will do nothing to help improve the economy. With even less in our pockets to spend, these cuts will just make things worse.

We also understand that teachers may be better-off than some others in the communities we work in. But most teachers only retire on a small pension already. Cutting our pensions won’t help save anybody else’s job or pay. It won’t restore the disgraceful cuts that have been made to private sector pensions.

If we are defeated, it won’t just be teachers that lose out. It will only encourage the Government to carry on cutting everything else too. But, if we force them back, other campaigns are more likely to win too!

SUPPORT OUR RALLIES & MARCHES ON JUNE 30
If you have to take a day off work because your child’s school is closed, we apologise. But don’t stay at home - bring your family to one of the joint union rallies and protest with us against ALL the cuts!