Thursday 30th June 2011

Toby Perkins, Labour Member of Parliament for Chesterfield has said tonight that, "Only dialogue will bring about a fairer deal for teachers and uninterrupted schooling in the public sector pension row."

Today, many schools across Chesterfield have suffered disruption due to strike action by hundreds of National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Association for Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) members.

Toby Perkins has described the decision to strike as 'a mistake', but  warned that the Government's 'gung ho' approach to public sector pension reform will cause unnecessary chaos for schoolchildren and parents as talks between Michael Gove and unions continue to fall short of finding a solution.

Mr. Perkins has also called on the Government to think again about the immediate 3% rise in pension contributions for teachers, emphasising the need to consider a more long-term plan, while advising the unions that strike action may backfire if parents have to scramble for day time supervision as a result of the strikes.

The NUT believes that the rise in pension contributions could lead to some teachers paying up to £100 a month more and says that the average public sector pension is around £6,500 a year.

Mr Perkins says that when In Government Labour took tough decisions to put public sector pensions on a sustainable footing by limited increases in the normal pension age (NPA) for the uniformed services and mostly focussed the age increase for new entrants to schemes.

He argued that whilst Labour think that the Hutton report can provide a starting point for negotiations, it is clearly wrong that the government placed a 3% surcharge on pensions prior to the Hutton report even being concluded, showing bad faith, and setting out on a confrontational path from the outset.

The MP for the town and the Shadow Minister for Children and Families commented: "Strike action must always be a last resort, and I feel that public sympathy for the case of the teachers will be eroded by the sense that these strikes are premature.

"The right to withdraw labour is a precious one and should always be used responsibly - public opinion really matters.

"However, the apparent relish with which the Secretary of State for Education and the Prime Minister are approaching this crisis creates the distinct impression that they are more interested in the political angle than in delivering a fair deal for public sector workers.

"The government appears to be spoiling for a fight with the teaching profession, so vital to the education and aspirations of the next generation, which will only mean all parties will inevitably lose out. As well as causing avoidable chaos for thousands of parents in my constituency, the Government's proposals lack empathy and a long term vision. This is an unacceptable situation and I urge Michael Gove and the unions to stop posturing and get working on finding a solution”.

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