TEACHERS from Poole’s Victoria Education Centre will take further strike action this week amid an ongoing dispute over conditions of employment.

The teacher members of the National Education Union will strike on Tuesday, March 30 and Wednesday, March 31 at the Lindsay Road special school against their employer Livability.

Teachers also held a strike, which the union said included around half the school’s teachers, from 7.30 to 9.30am on Wednesday, March 24.

NEU Senior Regional Officer, Ian McCann said: "It is so disappointing that our members are having to take further strike action. This is due to the employer’s complete lack of engagement with the union.

"We want to resolve this dispute, but we cannot do this, as Livability will not meet with us. I hope they will read this and step forward and commit to meaningful negotiations. Our members should be recognised for the hardworking, dedicated professional they are, and this should be reflected in their terms and conditions of employment."

Livability has introduced new contracts of employment that have 'eroded' teachers’ terms and conditions of employment, and these no longer match the national terms and conditions that most teachers across the country have.

NEU members want to have these same terms and conditions and feel valued as both employees and professionals.

At the strike on March 24, teachers said they were particularly concerned about changes to sick pay and maternity pay, which no longer matches national terms and conditions enjoyed by the majority of teachers nationwide.

Livability, which insists the new contracts remain in line with national conditions for pay and pensions, says the action comes after a consultation carried out as part of a wider organisational change to 'support the long-term financial sustainability' of the charity.

The charity has also said that no redundancies took place because of the consultation and that a 2.75 per cent pay rise was awarded and backdated to September 2020 for all teachers.