371 employed teachers took part in a full-day warning strike at 28 of the approximately 700 public schools in the capital on Wednesday. This is the number given by Martin Klesmann, the spokesman for the Senate Department of Education. Klesmann said the number had been given to his authority by the schools concerned.
The Education and Science Union (GEW) called for the strike. She calls for the conclusion of a collective agreement on health protection in which the class size at general and vocational schools is made binding. The Senate Department for Finance rejects the request because “it intervenes in the organizational decision of the employer State of Berlin”.
Strikes took place in nine out of twelve districts. “We wanted to keep the number of schools in which strikes were supposed to be low because of the already existing class cancellation and Corona,” said a spokesman for the GEW.
There were no strikes in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Reinickendorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf. The largest participation was in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg with 89 striking teachers at four schools. The lowest response was in Mitte. There was only one school on strike. Six teachers took part. Only employed teachers were allowed to strike.
According to the headmistress Dana Wolfram, 14 of the 70 teachers at the Otto-Nagel-Gymnasium in Biesdorf took part in the warning strike. Around half of the 70 educators are employed. Only employees are allowed to strike.
“33 students per class are spatially unreasonable”
“We can go through the first three lesson blocks until 1.30 p.m.,” Wolfram told Tagesspiegel on Wednesday morning, “but that will not be completely possible with the fourth block.” However, all-day care for the students is guaranteed. Parents were particularly concerned that their children would not be looked after all the time, said the headmistress. “We controlled the situation relatively well.”
However, the situation was made more difficult by the sick leave. Five teachers could not have given lessons on Wednesday for health reasons. Regarding the intention of the strike, she said “that 32 to 33 students per class at grammar schools are an unreasonable spatial requirement”.
It would be nice if you could put a student who was disturbing the class in a bench where there was no neighbor. But that is not possible. “That would be a relief.” The striking teachers wanted, said Wolfram, to draw attention to the situation. “We have even more students due to the move.”
State spokesman for parents is reluctant
Norman Heise, the chairman of the State Parents’ Committee, is rather aloof from the strike. “Every minute of lessons that are canceled is not good because you have to catch up a lot because of Corona,” he said. Against this background, the strike is “unfavorable”.
Heise also complained that the strike had been announced at short notice. “For some parents it is certainly difficult to get care for their children within two days.” At the same time, one demands solidarity from parents. Heise also said, “that at least we don’t want the classes to get any bigger”.
In the morning, the striking teachers took part in a bicycle demonstration. They drove to the party headquarters of the Greens, the FDP and the Left. According to a GEW spokesman, representatives of the Greens and the FDP appeared briefly. The demonstration ended in front of the SPD headquarters in Müllerstrasse, where Anne Albers, the head of the GEW executive board area civil servants, employees, collective bargaining policy, gave a speech.
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