UK hit by fresh teachers' strike

Out of the classrooms and on to the streets, hundreds of thousands of school teachers across England are going on strike for 48 hours this week in what's become a battle for dignity and better wages.

We want to be with our children. We really do you know, it's coming towards the end of term we want to enjoy every day with them.

But at the same time, we recognize that the fight for children's future has to involve strike action because this government doesn't listen.

Striking Teacher

• Tens of thousands of teachers have hit the streets of London in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and funding for schools.
  

  UK hit by fresh teachers' strike

  In the UK, tens of thousands of teachers have hit the streets of London in a long-running dispute with the government over pay and funding for schools.

There are others who are listening, parents and students.

These strikes have to happen obviously, they're impacting in the short term, but with extra pay, teachers will be more motivated and they can help in the long run rather than withering out.

Student Protestor

Underfunded and overworked, the teachers are not just striking, they are leaving the profession.

So you know, they put loads of time and effort and money now into training to be a teacher; You don't do it for an easy life.

You know, we work fifty-sixty hour weeks, and we give our heart and soul to the job.

But after four or five years 40% of the teachers leave and that's an appalling state and the government is directly responsible for that.

Striking Teacher

• Teachers in England set to hold further strikes.
  

  Teachers in England set to hold further strikes after rejecting government’s pay offer

  Teachers in England are set to go on with two further days of walkouts over pay and conditions after rejecting an unfair offer from the British government.

Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, says the government has made a fair and reasonable pay offer to teachers.

Her department has refused to publish recommendations for an allegedly higher pay offer by the independent school teachers review body, a decision that unions say risks dragging out the current dispute.

Part of the argument here is how a pay rise should be paid for.

The government says schools should use their existing budgets to fund any pay increases.

But the teachers have been pushing back saying the school budget is already stretched and that any wage rise should be fully funded by the government.

And it is not just the teachers unions who are not being heard.

Workers across the public sector, such as transport and health, have supported each other over the months of industrial action sweeping the country, demonstrating a solidarity that has scared the government into responding with a set of draconian laws to make it difficult for strikes to take place.

• The government has introduced a legislation to contain walkouts in the country's key sectors, forcing the staff to maintain a basic level of service during strike time or face dismissal.
  

  More than 100,000 British civil, public servants to go on all-out strike on April 28 over pay

  A major British trade union says its members are to stage an all-out strike on April 28.

Most of the things that we enjoy as employees, in terms of our rights, are brought about through strike actions and through unions.

It actually benefits everyone to be able to respect this right, which isn't being respected at the moment and that's going to impact people for generations to come.

Striker

In an atmosphere of uncertainty and with inflation still high, the strikers in London are defiant, saying they will push ahead with industrial action until their demands are met.

• Industrial action in the UK has gone nationwide
  

  Industrial action in the UK has gone nationwide

  Half a million people from across the public sector came out on the streets in England and Wales demanding better pay and working conditions.

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