David Cameron has pledged to take action to stop unions going on strike after huge numbers of public sector workers failed to turn up to work today. The Prime Minister said that in future strikes should only take place when a majority of members vote for it, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Today’s strike includes a large number of teachers, and one in eight schools are closed despite the ballot on industrial action at the National Union of Teachers (NUT) having taken place in 2012. Only a quarter of union members bothered to vote. The Prime Minister pledged to overhaul an archaic law that allows union members to disrupt children’s education needing to re-ballot.
Under the current law, unions can vote for “discontinuous action” which means they can strike as often as they want for as long as they like. But Downing Street have confirmed they are considering “a range of options” to ensure that strikes only happen in future after a democratic vote that has happened recently.
Mr Cameron said: “I don’t think these strikes are right… I think people should turn up for work. I think the time has come for looking at setting thresholds in strike ballots… How can it possibly be right for our children’s education to be disrupted by trade unions acting in that way? It is time to legislate and it will be in the Conservative manifesto.”
Another weakness in employment law for teachers is that elected politicians can work in schools that have a catchment area covering their own district. Whilst it is illegal for employees of a borough, such as teachers, to be elected to the council that employ them they can circumvent the rules by working in a nearby school that still takes pupils from their area.
One example is Cllr Alan De’ath who turned away children from his own ward this morning despite continuing to claim a salary as a Labour Councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham (H&F).
Breitbart London understands that De’ath is a hard left activist and teacher at St Thomas More Language College. The school is one of only ten that is closed in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which borders H&F and educates many of that borough’s children.
When asked if the NUT agreed with his actions a spokesman said: “I am sorry the regional secretary Bob Stapley is on holiday”.