We found out last week that GD's school is not, this time, one of the schools affected as apparently there are no National Union of Teachers working at her school. It is only that union striking today let's remember.
I have to say that simply saying there was announcement in February does not seem any of any help to those who did not know about the strike, unbelievable but they do exist, or for people like us who are on standby to cover strike duties for their children and have had to put our time on hold and as in our case cancelled a hospital appointment, prior to knowing the strike was not a general one. Our fault, yes, but you do what's necessary to help your children out don't you and we knew the two conflicted with each other.
Our daughter is a single mother who works for the private sector and get's very little help from her company. She had a lump removed from her armpit last year and lost both pay and her annual bonus, as like most of the private sector working conditions are not like those the public sector worker is used to. If we grandparents are not available or in existence I pity the poor devils trying to get by and loosing a days pay, again.
The right of the teacher to strike is one thing but it has to be said that there is another side to a strike that does cause family and financial concerns for those who have to suffer because of them.
I am not going to defend nor chastise the strike but I do think that the care of the children when a strike occurs does seem to get batted off as collateral damage.
As we see so many children in the comfortable position to be accompanying their parent on the strike marches today it has to be said there is an irony to a teachers strike, after all, they are the only parents who have no problems resourcing child care today to cover their strike action.