Film and report: Issy Harvey Running Time: 7 mins 55 secs
Boris Johnson was forced to shut schools after an incredible 400,000 strong zoom meeting by the NEU advised teachers to shut them down themselves using health and safety legislation … but the problems didn’t end there in Redbridge, East London, where at least four schools still expected ALL teachers to come into school to deliver online learning.
Teachers at one school invoked Section 44 of the 1995 Employment Rights Act, which gives workers the right to leave their workplace if they feel it’s unsafe – but when the management threatened them with breach of contract, disciplinary action and loss of earnings, the entire district of the NEU started balloting for strike action. Finally the schools and the council backed down without the need for strikes.
This was only possible because of how well organised Redbridge NEU are – and shows that you need collective strength to back up using Section 44. Here teachers explain how they’ve got organised over the past year, how to make schools safe, and what the Government should be doing now as a matter of urgency.