Wednesday 3 August 2016

This Cruel and Unnecessary Attack

This does not seem to have made the national papers (except perhaps the Morning Star, which I have yet to see today), but it is in today’s Northern Echo:

Dear Sir,

On 31st December, Labour-controlled Durham County Council will sack all 2700 of its Teaching Assistants.

On 1st January, it will reappoint them on a 23 per cent pay cut, even though they were already among the lowest paid in the country, and even though the councillors’ own allowances have recently been increased.

On 8th July, representatives of the Durham Teaching Assistants met Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner, both of whom expressed the strongest possible support for their cause.

On 9th July, Mr Corbyn repeated that support in his speech from the platform of the Durham Miners’ Gala, at which, albeit briefly, Ms Rayner marched with the Teaching Assistants. Mr Corbyn also signed the Teaching Assistants’ petition.

This cause was supported very actively by the late Davey Hopper of the Durham Miners’ Association, right up until his recent, untimely death.

In the strongest possible terms, we implore Durham County Council to heed the words and deeds of Jeremy Corbyn by reversing this cruel and unnecessary attack on a loyal, low paid, invaluable, and overwhelmingly female workforce.

Yours faithfully,

David Lindsay, journalist and activist
Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Fiona Farmer, National Officer for Local Authorities, Unite the Union
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union

1 comment:

  1. You should have been a councillor for something like 15 years by now. You would have been if it hadn't been for the local Owen Smith tendency. You've got them down to a tee on here.

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