Strikes to force school closures

9:20am Tuesday 15th July 2008

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HUNDREDS of pupils will be kept off school and college in York and North Yorkshire for two days as support staff strike over pay.

In total six York schools and a pupil support unit will close or partially close on Wednesday and Thursday this week as teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, caretakers and catering staff take part in strike action.

The strike is expected to affect crucial services, including schools, car parks, social services, council tax collection, libraries, and education services.

In York, Piccadilly multi-story car park will close for both days because the barriers need to be unlocked and locked at the start and end of the day. It is not yet known whether other city car parks will be closed.

York’s two special schools, Hob Moor Oaks and Applefields, will close all day when staff join the strike by the Unison and Unite unions after rejecting a below inflation pay offer of 2.45 per cent.

In addition, parents are being asked to keep their children off school at Robert Wilkinson Primary, which will close afternoons only, and the nurseries at Burton Green Primary, Knavesmire Primary and Poppleton Ousebank. The Westfield Primary Support Unit, in Acomb, will also close both days.

Meanwhile, in North Yorkshire hundreds of students at Selby High School and Brayton College will have to stay at home as both will both close for the two days.

At St Mary’s RC School, in Selby, reception class will be closed on Wednesday, and Years 3 and 4 will be closed on Thursday afternoon. Woodlands Special School, in Scarborough, will be closed both days, as will Brompton Hall Special School.

County Councillor Carl Les, executive member for corporate services, said: “The county council has good relations with Unison locally and this dispute is the result of national pay negotiations.

“While the annual pay settlement is negotiated and determined nationally, the county council has made provision for 2.5 per cent and any pay award above this will cause budget pressures.”

Linda Wilkinson, Unison York general convenor, said they were sorry for any disruption to services, but that they were left with no choice other than to take industrial action.

The Press reported last week that City of York Council bosses believe about 35,000 homes across the city could face having to keep their waste for several days longer, or even take it to the dump themselves because of binmen joining the strike More than 22,000 households in Acomb, Heworth, Huntington, Stockton-on-the-Forest, Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall, Wigginton, the city centre, terraced areas, flats and outlying rural areas could see their refuse go uncollected.

A further 12,146 households in Acomb, Heworth, Stockton Lane, Earswick, Haxby and Huntington could see their green waste or recyclables left. City of York Council is advising people to consider using their nearest household waste recycling centre instead.