Hackney NUT slams Michael Gove during one-day strike

Walk-out: teachers took part in a one-day strike earlier this month. Photograph: Hackney NUT

Schools across the borough were closed during a one-day nationwide teachers’ strike earlier this month amid a row over pay, working conditions and pensions.

Members of the NUT and NASUWT who marched through Hackney holding placards said education secretary Michael Gove had “failed to engage” with them, leaving them “no option” but to strike.

Jamie Duff of Hackney NUT said: “The attack on our pay and conditions is a direct attack on education and the children we teach.

“This government is gradually trying to privatise education and for them to succeed they must deregulate and de-professionalise teaching – we will not let that happen.

“We will not stand by and let this government dismantle state education.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education called the strike “disappointing”, adding: “All strikes will do is disrupt parents’ lives, hold back children’s education and damage the reputation of the profession.”