Teachers strike over redundancies

The school is open as usual for the pupils

Teachers at a school in Blackwood abandoned lessons on Thursday to strike in protest against redundancy notices issued to two members of staff.

A picket was held at the gates of Oakdale Comprehensive School by teachers who are members of the union NASUWT.

At 1100 BST, the union members moved to Caerphilly council's County Hall to lobby council officials in charge of education for the region.

"We have had absolutely fantastic support about this matter and a lot of the parents are supporting us," said Tim Cox from the NASUWT.

"A lot of motorists who have been passing, have been beeping their horns in support as well.

This is a one-day strike, but unless we manage to resolve this with the authority, then there will be more strikes next term Tim Cox, NASUWT

"We are only allowed six on the picket line at a time, but we have had a rota this morning and nearly all our members from the school have stood on it.

"Eleven jobs are going in total at the school, but there are two that we are in dispute over.

"The current staff contingent at the school is 48 full time teachers and redundancy notices have been issued to 11 of them.

"We want to try and get the education officials at County Hall to renegotiate the two redundancies we are in dispute over.

"This is a one-day strike, but unless we manage to resolve this with the authority, then there will be more strikes next term," he added.

Governors at the school in Blackwood said that despite the strike, the school was open as normal for the pupils.

We are obviously extremely disappointed that industrial action is taking place, but we feel we have done all we can to avert strike action Spokesman, Caerphilly Council

They said that teachers not taking part in the strike and members of the senior management team would be supervising the students.

A spokesman for Caerphilly Council said: "The authority has made strenuous efforts to resolve these issues over the last few weeks by working closely with the school and the union to try and reach an amicable agreement.

"We are obviously extremely disappointed that industrial action is taking place, but we feel we have done all we can to avert strike action.

"Regrettably there could be other schools in the area facing similar problems as Oakdale, so we are unclear why this action is taking place at this particular school.

"The decision to take any further action and cause disruption to the school is now in the hands of the NASUWT," he added.