Melanie Griffiths

@DanielKebedeNEU Is limiting the pay of CEOs going to be part of the enforced pay and conditions?

This bill will make a material improvements to the lives of children and educators. Academies to follow nationally agreed T&Cs ✅️ Auto-academisation gone ✅️ Free school presumption gone ✅️ LAs have the power to open schools ✅️ Qualified Teacher Status for all ✅️ We will continue to press the case for adequate funding, but this is without doubt a significant shift.

@DanielKebedeNEU This is driving the privatisation of education services and encouraging schools to use cheaper inexperienced staff. Also the lack of accountability and transparency where delegated funds can be used for excessive CEO pay and vanity projects.

@DanielKebedeNEU And will they be sorting out funding? Not just underfunding, but the way that funding is allocated directly to schools mainly on pupil numbers and not actual costs, especially staffing costs.

@DanielKebedeNEU Although I think perhaps Scottish teachers are also happier because the 1988 Education Act did not apply there and schools are not run as businesses as they are in England and Wales.

Government recommends UNFUNDED pay award for 2025. The govt has submitted its evidence for the teachers pay award 2025. It recommends: - 2.8% for all - To come out of EXISTING budgets - Schools to find "efficiencies" After 14 years of conservative cuts, where will these "efficiencies" come from? Support staff jobs? Subjects? Resources? We are in the midst of a deep and severe recruitment and retention crisis. There isnt an R&R crisis in Scotland - do you know why? Because a teacher who has been teaching for six years in Scotland, earns £6500 a year more than in England. This is a terrible misstep. The aspirations of 6500 more teachers, of securing the life chances of children are both admirable. But both unachievable with a 2.8% unfunded pay award.

@CrispinShow I would say that the demand for increases in funding for schools should only be made in conjunction with the demand that funds go to frontline education services and not into the pockets of private companies or the salaries of academy CEOs

Question: Who benefits from VAT on private schools? Answer: Academy Trusts, which are privately run and state funded. The elimination of competition helps pay for their embossed stationary.

@CrispinShow Academies are run by unaccountable CEOs who pay themselves huge salaries from money they get from public finances. VAT on or off public school fees has no effect on this. Bringing schools back into local democratic control would.

@zarahsultana Just wondering why @RachaelMaskell didn't vote with you?

This is why I voted to scrap the two-child benefit cap and immediately lift 300,000 children out of poverty.

#Election2024 What he means here is " Shit, that comment wasn't very expedient. I didn’t mean to alienate yet more previous Labour voters."

@AlexiDimond @andrewfeinstein @MiddleEastEye @SheffieldGreens Maybe it's the first one with a Labour majority. York Labour council is refusing to even discuss it. 🙄

@andrewfeinstein This @MiddleEastEye article is inaccurate. Sheffield Council passed a @SheffieldGreens motion calling for a ceasefire & to #StopArmingIsrael on 1st Nov 2023. sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/2023/11/01/gre…

UK: Cambridge becomes first city council to call for ceasefire and end to arms sales to Israel middleeasteye.net/news/uk-first-…

@andrewfeinstein Maybe it's the first one with a Labour majority to do this. York Labour council is refusing to even discuss it. 🙄

@KerryAGodliman My son just sent me this🤣

@RunSirRun @drleatongray @naomicfisher Oh my, "none negotiables". I remember that phrase directed at teachers from the management at my last school. A real authoritarian phrase, used in my experience by weak managers who are unable to take the opinions of other members into account.

Imagine you start a new job and they send a strict dress code, down to the colour of your socks and style of your shoe. They also send you a list of equipment which they say you must have every day. Some of it seems a bit strange - two green pens?- but off you go dutifully to Smiths and equip yourself. On the first day, you’re lined up with your colleagues and inspected. Anyone whose clothes aren’t exactly according to the dress code is told they’ll have to work an extra half hour. Same for any missing equipment. The penalties add up - wrong colour socks and missing protractor? One hour after work. You’re a bit concerned at this because you had arranged a lift home and if you have to stay late you’ll miss it. You check your clothes and equipment, all seems okay. You pass the check, but the woman next to you has the wrong shoes. She’s distressed at the news that she’ll be staying late - she had plans later. Tough. She starts worrying about how she’s going to get new shoes to avoid the same tomorrow whilst also staying late at work. You don’t know how to help. You get into your office and look around at your colleagues, but there’s no time to chat. On the whiteboard is a list of expectations for the day. You must be on task at all times and this will be monitored through your computer. Toilet breaks are limited to particular times and you’ll be queuing because it’s the same time for everyone. Eyes must be kept on your computer and this will be tracked. You must sit facing forwards and not slouch. You must use a regulation ruler whenever you read a document. If you break the rules, you’ll be kept after work the same day. You’re told that if you get too many ‘after works’ then you’ll spend a day in the Quiet Room where no one will talk to you for the whole day and you can’t eat lunch with your colleagues or go to the toilet more than twice. You start to feel a sense of unease. You’re worried about whether you can comply and what will happen if you start gazing off into space or rocking on your chair. The office is very quiet. ‘Isn’t it lovely?’ says your manager. ‘People here appreciate our structure and clear boundaries. You’ll do the best work you have ever done here because no time is wasted. We’ve set it up so you don’t have to worry about making decisions, you just do what we say and concentrate on your work’. You think perhaps this isn’t the right place for you, but they remind you that you’ve signed a five year contract without a get out clause. There are no other options. You are powerless. What effect would that have on you? Would you be happy and relaxed at work? Would you be motivated and doing your best for those five years? Might you feel anxious and trapped or resentful and angry? And why would we think it would be any different for our kids?

Tomorrow at 6pm. Join me, @MaryWBousted @AGMcconville @PaulaAyliffe and @griffmelan to discuss ideas for a very different education system. eventbrite.co.uk/e/renewing-pub…

The Chairman of the Conservative Party, Richard Holden calling George Galloway an anti-semite on radio 4, like it's just a fact. I hope he's sued. #RochdaleByElection

And this is why I have been saying for years we should never have tolerated the lies and extremist views of Netanyahu. For him it was never about the hostages - having spoken to the families of the victims of the 7th October attack they raised these concerns months ago. They continue to protest against Netanyahu for not prioritising hostage release. Netanyahu is about protecting Netanyahu and his political career. He is not a partner for peace. He is a dangerous and divisive man mired in corruption , hell bent on destroying any prospect of a future Palestinian State and in the process tragically destroying Israel and Israeli society He and his right wing extremists must go. #CeasefireNOW

Last night Rochdale was blessed to have @Lowkey0nline in the house. You will struggle to find a more knowledgeable person on the Gaza Genocide. He said “When it comes to Israel, Keir Starmer is to the right of Margaret Thatcher” 🔥🔥🔥 On the 29th Feb, Rochdale vote Galloway.

Today I resigned from the Labour Party and Kirklees Labour group I will continue to represent cm&n ward as an independent a long side my ward colleague ⁦@CllrIMS⁩ who resigned with me.

@SBA1948 @alexnunns @DanWei55 @kimleadbeater Yes, she needed to have a chat with Jess Phillips.

@alexnunns @DanWei55 What @kimleadbeater is saying is ... "I'm for the #GenocideinGaza ..but I represent a constituency with a a large Asian and Muslim population who I'm trying to hoodwink for votes"

What a weak effort. She's not voting for a ceasefire because "even if I did, nothing would change." Instead she'll vote for something that "sets out a framework which leads towards that much needed ceasefire." But by her own logic, why vote for that, as nothing will change?