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Teachers to strike over shorter lunch break
PIMLICO School teachers are due to strike on Tuesday for the first time in a decade over plans to shorten their lunch break from 50 minutes to 30.
Westminster National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted for industrial action after crunch talks with headteacher Jo Shuter and chief executive of Westminster Council David Walker on Tuesday “failed to offer a compromise”.
The 30-minute lunch is part of plans to get pupils out of the school early when the school begins to be demolished in February.
An official NUT picket will be held outside the school gates on Tuesday morning.
Padraic Finn, secretary of Westminster NUT, said: “Westminster stands to make a lot of money by not decanting the school during the building works – which at best will last for two-and-a-half years.
He added: “They are expecting staff and pupils to bear the brunt of this for nothing. I am very confident the one-day strike will be well supported by the vast majority of members.”
The 1,400 pupils will remain on site as the school is demolished around them with only a fifth of their playground available.
In a letter sent to the West End Extra on Tuesday – hours before talks with Pimlico teachers broke down and the strike was officially called – Councillor Sarah Richardson, lead member for schools, said: “I am disappointed that industrial action is set to take place at Pimlico when just 23 of the school’s 140 staff voted in favour. In effect, a tiny minority of staff are holding the school to ransom and are set to cause widespread disruption to lessons throughout the day.”
Her comments have been blasted as “outrageous” by teachers at the school. |
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