ATL

March for the Alternative: Jobs, Growth, Justice

Saturday 26 March 2011, London

Hundreds of ATL members joined hundreds of thousands of public service professionals, union members, their families and supporters in the wider community at the TUC's national demonstration to protest against the drastic public sector cuts being implemented by the coalition government.

The March for the Alternative on 26 March 2011 saw ATL members expressing their outrage about the range of cuts being imposed on public services, including education.

A 53-year-old teacher from Brentwood, said: "I feel very strongly about the changes under discussion. Teachers agreed to a lower salary than equal professionals because of the pension reward at the end. It is grossly unfair to change the rules especially for those of us with 10 years or less to work. It is unreasonable to increase the pensionable age to 66; teaching is physically and emotionally very demanding."

Mike Cotterill, a teacher from Telford, said he marched because, "I am sick of being blamed for the state of the nation's finances. Cameron says we are all in it together but I see no evidence of this when bankers are still receiving huge bonuses without retribution from this weak government."

A teacher from Perth said: "As a 'soon to be retired teacher' I think the brunt of the cuts forced on us by the bankers should not be borne by the public service workers who have paid into a fund assuring a decent pension when the salaries were not the main attraction. Although my pension may not be affected, I will march for the next hard-pressed generation of teachers."

Eileen Perins, a teacher from Winchester, said: "Although I am nearing the end of my professional career as a teacher, my children are just beginning theirs. My daughter, currently working for Connexions, is facing almost total loss of the 68 jobs in her service. We are looking at many of our bright young people becoming unemployed and not being there to assist the young people who really need them."

Judith Dean, a teacher from London, said "The cuts are unfair and despite having a 100% success rate in my field I am still losing my job because of the cuts.  Perhaps I should have been a banker, they seem to be rewarded for failure." 

Why did we march?

Deep spending cuts damage public services, hit the vulnerable and threaten recovery. They're dangerous, unfair and unnecessary.

For ATL members these cuts already mean a pay freeze, the first real cuts in maintained school budgets for a long time, threats to the local authority's ability to provide adequate support to schools, and increased tuition fees for future student teachers. Plus, of course, paying more, getting less and working longer for your pension.

Yet there's an alternative - one that's fair, safe and sustainable: 

• a Robin Hood tax on the banks

• close tax loopholes

• policies for jobs and green growth.

Here are a few more reasons why ATL members marched on 26 March.