The second round of teachers' strikes saw hundreds of classrooms shut and picket lines and protests outside schools.

Teachers mounted a picket outside Cheney School in Oxford.

Meanwhile the Witney contingent of Oxfordshire National Education Union members were on their way to London for a rally in Trafalgar Square where union leaders will strongly criticise the Government over its handling of the public sector disputes.

There will also be local action across Oxfordshire tomorrow (16/3).

Many classrooms are closed today, with some year groups told to stay at home.

In a statement, the NEU said: "Now we have to turn up the heat on the government by building this week’s  national demonstration in London on 15 March, Budget Day.

 

 

"Chancellor Hunt will tell parliament a pack of lies that day - claiming he can’t afford to meet our, and other workers’, pay claim.

"Those claims are hardly radical. Just the simple demand that pay rises by at least inflation this year and that it is fully funded.

"In short don’t cut our living standards any further and don’t cut school budgets in real terms.

"The government can pay.

"The government and its Office for Budget Responsibility told us in November that the borrowing it had to do meant it had no money to pay us or other workers more.

"Yet official figures last week from the Office for National Statistics showed that in fact the government now has a staggering £30 billion more than it said it would have back in November. This is mainly down to bigger tax receipts than it expected.

"To settle our claim in full would cost it around £1 billion- leaving plenty to pay other workers fighting to protect living standards too."

Up to half a million junior doctors, teachers, civil servants, lecturers, London Underground drivers, BBC journalists and Amazon workers also took industrial action.

The disputes are over pay, jobs, pensions, conditions and cuts, with warnings of more strikes if they are not resolved.

  

 

 

Parents across England were having to make arrangements to look after their children because of the NEU strike.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, told Times Radio he did not see parents as collateral damage in the strike.

“But I do sincerely apologise to parents for the disruption to education today, and the disruption to their home and their working lives.

“We think that parents understand the point that we’re making – that this generation of children, so hard-hit by Covid, has been ignored by this Government.”

He added: “It is no good politicians saying ‘Oh, the economy is not doing well, we’ll invest in five or six years time’.

“This generation of children are in school now and they are losing out compared with other generations of children, and we are demanding investment for them.”

 

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This story was written by Miranda Norris, she joined the team in 2021 and covers news across Oxfordshire as well as news from Witney.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Miranda.Norris@newsquest.co.uk. Or find her on Twitter: @Mirandajnorris

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