Teachers' strike to close schools

Scores of schools around the Black Country and Staffordshire are set to close on Thursday when teachers stage their first national strike in 21 years.

Others will only partially close, leaving a headache for parents who have more than one child in the same school. The industrial action was planned after ministers announced a pay rise of 2.45 per cent, with further rises of 2.3 per cent in 2009 and 2010.

Teachers described the increases as "insulting", saying they fell below the Retail Prices Index inflation rate of four per cent and staff faced an effective pay cut. To add further disruption, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union are also set to walkout over pay on Thursday.

The union, which represents more than 100,000 civil servants, represents workers from the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office, Department for Transport, Driving Standards Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency. It also represents the Highways Agency,Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, Vehicle Certification Agency and Land Registry.

The National Union of Teachers, which has 13,000 members in the West Midlands, described the pay offer as "damaging".

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers said that membership applications had trebled since the strike was confirmed.

David Cole, Wolverhampton NUT general secretary, said that his 1,200 members were upset and angry.

He added: "We are reluctant to take strike action, our members are very professional and they do not want to strike."

"But I think members are very angry and concerned about their pay being cut. NUT industrial action over the years is minimal but there comes a point when you have to say 'no more, this isn't good enough'."

Wolverhampton education boss Councillor Christine Irvine said: "There will be some impact in Wolverhampton, obviously this is very serious action on the part of the NUT.

"We asked schools to do their own assessment as to how many of their teaching staff will be out on strike and whether that means they will need to close or make arrangements to make sure health and safety issues are properly covered.

"The instruction from the authority was to stay open wherever possible.

"Obviously there will be some schools that are not able to do that but we haven't got the exact number yet as they have to notify us today," added the education chief. In Worcestershire, more than 5,000 pupils are expected to be affected.

More than 30 schools in the county look set to be either fully or partially closed on Thursday.