Mass rally of teachers and parents vow to fight cuts

“Let me say clearly to Renfrewshire Council. If you attempt to replace teachers with untrained staff then we will take our children out of school.” These words, by Stephen Wright, Chair of Renfrewshire Parent Council, were met with thunderous acclaim by the 800 parents and teachers packed into Paisley Town Hall and by the 350 people outside listening via loud speakers.

This meeting, which followed a 450 strong EIS meeting of teachers and parents just a few days before, comes from a spontaneous outpouring of anger of opposition to the SNP-led Renfrewshire Council’s attempt to save £1.2 million by cutting the hours of teachers and replacing them with lower paid seasonal staff to work on ‘cultural, citizenship and sporting learning activities’. This would result in the loss of 60 teaching posts.
 
Insult was heaped on injury when the council claimed that this move would actually improve educational provision.
 
If they had deliberately set out to create a tidal wave of opposition then they could not have done a better job.
 
Needless to say the Labour party hierarchy turned out in force to condemn the Nationalist administration. However, their patronising hypocrisy was swiftly punctured. Speakers from the floor questioned their intentions if they came to power after the Scottish parliamentary elections in May and the Scottish local elections next year considering that they were not prepared to condemn the Labour controlled councils throughout Scotland who were also making similar savage cuts to education and other public services.
 
It was clear that those in the hall saw this not only as a local fight but something that had to be challenged at a national level.
 
Speakers who highlighted the contrasting fortunes of the bankers and their bonuses with the potential loss of jobs among council employees and the destruction of local services were met with enthusiastic applause.
 
An EIS spokesperson reinforced the determination to fight when she said that while teachers did not wish to strike the EIS would take every action necessary to defend jobs. This came on the back of an indicative ballot of teachers for industrial action which produced a 97% “Yes” vote.
 
It may not be Egypt or Tunisia but in a few short weeks the political situation in Renfrewshire has been transformed.
 
We were warned that other local authorities were watching to see if Renfrewshire Council would get away with such an attack on their local community with the prospect of them doing something similar. But what has happened is that other Parent Councils and Anti-Cuts groups have taken confidence from the fight back in Renfrewshire and other local authorities will tread much more cautiously than before for fear of such a backlash.
 
Clearly the next step is to build for effective strike action, if the council refuses to back down, and to build the Anti-Cuts movement in Renfrewshire and across Scotland.