Teachers stage second pay strike

14 July 2011 Last updated at 09:20 GMT Some teachers at a Gwynedd school are staging a second day-long strike in protest at pay and job cuts.

The union NASUWT claims the local authority and school governors were being "intransient " over proposed redundancies at Tywyn Secondary School.

The union is warning the dispute has potential to spread to other schools across the county during the summer months if it is not resolved.

Gwynedd council has been asked to comment.

The teaching union said it had put a 10-point plan to the school's governing body to resolve the dispute which affected six teachers, around a quarter of the teaching staff, two of whom face redudancy.

Union general secretary Chris Keates said: "This was rejected. Instead the governors opted to push forward with redundancies."

She added: "To sack teachers or cut their pay when the school budget is in surplus is appalling.

NASUWT Wales Organiser Rex Phillips added: "The NASUWT has made strenuous efforts to attempt to resolve this dispute but it is now clear that we are being blocked by the intransient attitude of the school governors and local authority."

A picket at the school, which around 300 pupils, was held on Thursday morning.

The union's first one-day strike was held at the school on 29 June.

View the original article here

High school teachers hold strike

13 July 2011 Last updated at 10:49 GMT The UCAC union said about 30 teachers protestied outside the school on Wednesday An Anglesey high school has closed as teachers hold a one-day strike in a row over a cut in staff hours and an increase in class sizes.

Wednesday's action is being taken at Ysgol Gyfun, Llangefni.

Members of two unions, the NASUWT and UCAC, said there were also concerns about possible pay cuts.

Anglesey council said both the school and the education authority had been trying to find a resolution to avoid the industrial action.

In a joint statement, the unions said: "Staff have been targeted as a result of the manipulation of the curriculum, cuts to lesson allocation, increases in group sizes, the employment of temporary staff and constraints on option choices. Such treatment is unacceptable."

The council spokesperson said: "Every effort has been made to safeguard full-time posts.

"It is disappointing, therefore, to learn that the unions are frustrated by a perceived lack of co-operation from the school and local education authority."

View the original article here