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Parts of the country will come to a virtual standstill on Walkout Wednesday as some 200,000 teachers take part in their biggest strike in three decades, shutting down classrooms in 85 percent of schools.
A total of half a million teachers, university staff, drivers, Border Force officers, civil servants and security guards are expected to take part in a coordinated day of strike action.
NHS patients and nursery children also risk being disproportionately affected as staff, many of them women, are forced to stay at home to look after their own school-age pupils, experts have warned.
Most trains in England will not run, queues are predicted at airports and 600 troops have been mobilized to support public services.
Downing Street admitted the level of strike action would make it “very difficult for people trying to go about their daily lives”.
The walkouts across multiple sectors come as unions step up their campaign for higher pay rises from the government.
They coincide with marches and rallies across the country after the Trades Union Congress called on all workers, not just those in the public sector, to protest in support of the right to strike.
Ahead of the strikes, the biggest teachers’ union NEU said an extra 40,000 members had joined in the past two weeks. In addition to the 127,000 members who initially voted to strike and others expected to participate, union sources said they expect about 200,000 teachers to walk out.
And Dr Mary Boustead, the joint general secretary of the NEU, predicted that 85 per cent of schools in England and Wales would be fully or partially closed, while one of the NEU’s leaders, Kevin Courtney, told The Independent that it would be the biggest teachers’ strike since 1986.
NHS chiefs have warned that widespread school closures will prove “challenging” for the health service if staff stay at home to look after their children.
All UK strike dates confirmed for February 2023
Miriam Deakin, director of policy at NHS Providers, said: “Trusts are already dealing with and supporting staff through the most widespread industrial action in the history of the NHS, so tomorrow’s teachers’ strike leading to widespread school closures could will prove challenging for leaders and staff.”
Trusts will do “everything they can” to help staff and ensure patients receive safe, high-quality care, she added.
Nurseries may also be forced to turn away young children due to staff shortages, warned Jonathan Broadbury of the National Nurseries Association (NDNA).
“We know that the majority of the nursery and early years workforce is female – and if there are issues with children not being able to go to school, the Covid research suggests that maybe working mums should be looking , not the working fathers after the children who cannot go to school,” he said. “So there’s going to be a pretty serious knock-on effect on the early years workforce if schools have to close.”
Up to 85 percent of schools may close or be partially closed due to the strike on Wednesday
(PA)
School leaders have also warned of the effect mass school closures will have on students.
Benedict Ashmore-Short, chief executive of The Park Academies Trust, which runs six schools in south-west England, said that while teachers had the right to strike, it had to be balanced with “the needs of pupils whose education has been disrupted by the pandemic in the last three years”.
Among the contingency plans for schools closing are a return to online lessons, prioritizing those exams this year, and Covid-style classes for vulnerable children.
In a controversial move, the government told schools they could use volunteers to stay open, although it is not known how many chose to do so.
Teachers are due to strike for seven days from today until mid-March. On Tuesday, Downing Street hit out at the fact that teachers do not have to tell their employers if they plan to strike in advance.
Number 10 said it was “disappointing” that school leaders did not know how many staff they would have available until the day of the action.
As of Tuesday evening, many schools still had not announced whether they would be able to open Wednesday morning.
The walkouts follow strike action by teachers in Scotland
(PA)
The action was prompted by unions who are angry at ministers for increasing the pay of school staff by 5.4 per cent. But government sources say many employees will get bigger increases.
One former teacher, who says he will lose £250 if he stays at home to look after his two children during the strikes, said his former colleagues had “completely misunderstood their audience”.
Paul Long, a self-employed education consultant from near Birmingham, said: “This is a school closure because a national union has chosen to go on strike and it has had a big financial impact on us for three Wednesdays.”
Downing Street admitted Wednesday’s mass strike would be “very difficult” for many.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We know there will be significant disruption given the scale of the strike action taking place tomorrow and it will be very difficult for people trying to go about their daily lives.
“We are tentative that this is going to disrupt people’s lives, and that’s why we think negotiations, not pickets, are the right approach.”
Former teacher Paul Long said he will have to take the day off to look after his children due to teachers’ strike
(PA)
Meanwhile, Phil Douglas, director-general of the Border Force, warned there would be queues at airports on Wednesday because of a strike by passport booth workers.
He said his organization had been planning the walkout for months, adding: “Of course there will be some disruption and queues.”
Government minister Richard Holden defended the government’s stance of standing firm in the face of pay demands in striking sectors, saying the price would be “massive tax rises” or cuts to public services.
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