Safety fears teachers are set to strike at St Aloysius Secondary School

Published: 18 June 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

TEACHERS have voted to strike next week (Tuesday) over the safety of new buildings at St Aloysius Secondary School.

Twenty-nine teachers voted in favour of industrial action because they feel their complaints are falling on deaf ears.

Headteacher Tom Mannion was last night (Thursday) in the midst of last-minute talks to stop the planned industrial action.

He said: “Negotiations are ongoing to avert Tuesday’s planned strike.”

Unions have organised a public meeting on Monday to discuss their concerns with staff, parents and the wider community.

It comes after up to 50 teachers held children in the playground for a whole morning in May claiming renovation building work – part of the former government’s Building Schools for the Future Programme – has left St Aloysius unsafe.

The teachers want contractor Balfour Beatty to halt the demolition of an older building (Block B) until they are satisfied with the new one.

One teacher said: “Apart from the fact that they are destroying classrooms that we need, there appears to be a huge amount of waste. Perfectly good furniture is quite simply destroyed, loaded on to large skips and sent for landfill.”

The teacher said the tops had already been ripped off the tables in one history classroom in Block B, which is undergoing demolition, adding: “The teacher who used this room said he preferred it to the room that he has now got in the new building. At the moment only five rooms in Block B have been destroyed so there are still about 32 left. Every day that goes by means that more expensive damage will be done.”

Islington NUT assistant secretary Ken Muller said: “CEA@Islington, the private company that runs Islington’s schools, and Balfour Beatty, the private company responsible for the re-building, are insisting that there is no real problem. They plan to demolish the only block left that could provide sufficient teaching space whilst this mess is cleared up. They want to put business before pupils. We want to start putting children first – isn’t that what education is about?”

Islington Council education chief Labour councillor Richard Watts said: ‘There’s an ongoing issue between the school and some of the staff. The council is trying to mediate this to come to a solution. I’m very confident that a solution can be reached.”

A Balfour Beatty spokeswoman said: “Health and safety of the students, teachers and community of the St Aloysius school is and always has been Balfour Beatty’s main priority. We, as part of the Local Education Partnership, employed a Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) co-ordinator, who has managed the safety matters with the design team and the school itself. The detailed design including the internal layouts, has been developed working closely with the school representatives, by our professional design team including an architect.”

“In developing the design we have met and delivered the Council’s requirements.”

• A public meeting – for parents, staff and the local community – will be held on Monday, June 21, upstairs at The Old Crown, Highgate Hill, at 6.30pm.