At Tower Hamlets College in East London Funding cuts mean that close to 1,000 places for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes have been lost because 13 ESOL teachers are being made redundant.
At this point I should say that the cost of keeping these ESOL teachers on is around £300,000 for the year. Tower Hamlets College has a 'rainy day' fund of £6 million. So the money to pay these staff to do this vital work is there!
Cuts to ESOL classes lock the poorest people into poverty and social exclusion. ESOL helps people to find work, contribute to the community, support their children with homework, communicate with doctors, call 999 and access public services.
There are currently about 2,000 people waiting to access ESOL in Tower Hamlets with many more in neighbouring Hackney and across London.
Most of those faced with cuts are women from black and minority ethnic groups and draw their independence from ESOL courses.
I am proud to say that my colleagues at Tower Hamlets College are fighting these cuts and have voted to take indefinite strike action until the management withdraw these cuts. They are making a huge personal sacrifice to do this because they are all now on strike pay which means they are all taking a massive pay cut for the duration of the strike.
It is vital that they win this battle. In education EAL/ESOL teaching is always in the frount line for cuts. In Tower Hamlets we are down to around 10% of the EAL/ESOL staff we had in the 1980s. This is at a time when the need for EAL/ESOL teaching to prevent social exclusion is greater than ever before.
What you can do to help:
Please send urgent messages of support to:
Richard McEwan (UCU Branch Sec) : 07532-364638
Alison Lord (UCU Branch Chair) : [email protected]
John Budis (UCU Branch Sec) : [email protected]
Roberto Foth (UCU Branch Sec) : [email protected]
Ensure that you, your friends and family are at the rally:
Defend Jobs, Defend ESOL, Defend Education!
Tower Hamlets College - Stop The Cuts
Saturday, September 12th
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Altab Ali Park, Alder Street, London E1 - I will be there and hope to see you there too!
Take a collection at work and donate money to the strike fund:
c/o Keith Priddle, UCU THC Treasurer,
Tower Hamlets College/Arbour Square Site,
London E1 0PT
Make a direct bank transfer to the strike fund:
Account Name: UCU Arbour Square
Account No: 65252262
Sort Code: 089299
Bank: The Cooperative Bank
Send cheques payable to "UCU Arbour Square" to:
UCU Tower Hamlets College
c/o LARC
62 Fieldgate Street
London E1 1ES
Sign the petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/THCollegefunding
Write protest messages to the college principle: [email protected]
Visit the picket lines:
Tower Hamlets College, Poplar Site, E14 0AF
Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square Site, E1 0PT
Tower Hamlets College, Bethnal Green Centre Site, E2 6AB
At this point I should say that the cost of keeping these ESOL teachers on is around £300,000 for the year. Tower Hamlets College has a 'rainy day' fund of £6 million. So the money to pay these staff to do this vital work is there!
Cuts to ESOL classes lock the poorest people into poverty and social exclusion. ESOL helps people to find work, contribute to the community, support their children with homework, communicate with doctors, call 999 and access public services.
There are currently about 2,000 people waiting to access ESOL in Tower Hamlets with many more in neighbouring Hackney and across London.
Most of those faced with cuts are women from black and minority ethnic groups and draw their independence from ESOL courses.
I am proud to say that my colleagues at Tower Hamlets College are fighting these cuts and have voted to take indefinite strike action until the management withdraw these cuts. They are making a huge personal sacrifice to do this because they are all now on strike pay which means they are all taking a massive pay cut for the duration of the strike.
It is vital that they win this battle. In education EAL/ESOL teaching is always in the frount line for cuts. In Tower Hamlets we are down to around 10% of the EAL/ESOL staff we had in the 1980s. This is at a time when the need for EAL/ESOL teaching to prevent social exclusion is greater than ever before.
What you can do to help:
Please send urgent messages of support to:
Richard McEwan (UCU Branch Sec) : 07532-364638
Alison Lord (UCU Branch Chair) : [email protected]
John Budis (UCU Branch Sec) : [email protected]
Roberto Foth (UCU Branch Sec) : [email protected]
Ensure that you, your friends and family are at the rally:
Defend Jobs, Defend ESOL, Defend Education!
Tower Hamlets College - Stop The Cuts
Saturday, September 12th
2.00pm - 5.00pm
Altab Ali Park, Alder Street, London E1 - I will be there and hope to see you there too!
Take a collection at work and donate money to the strike fund:
c/o Keith Priddle, UCU THC Treasurer,
Tower Hamlets College/Arbour Square Site,
London E1 0PT
Make a direct bank transfer to the strike fund:
Account Name: UCU Arbour Square
Account No: 65252262
Sort Code: 089299
Bank: The Cooperative Bank
Send cheques payable to "UCU Arbour Square" to:
UCU Tower Hamlets College
c/o LARC
62 Fieldgate Street
London E1 1ES
Sign the petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/THCollegefunding
Write protest messages to the college principle: [email protected]
Visit the picket lines:
Tower Hamlets College, Poplar Site, E14 0AF
Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square Site, E1 0PT
Tower Hamlets College, Bethnal Green Centre Site, E2 6AB
