Thread by @karamballes

@bbcnickrobinson on #r4today did very little to actually examine the government's pay offer
@MaryBoustedNEU explained that while it's a real terms cut to wages it's also not fully funded so will mean cuts to school budgets
Robinson "government says it is fully funded"

Well...

You'd hope presenters on the BBCs flagship news programme would go beyond simply repeating the gov line
Details of the offer are available, the BBC could crunch the numbers themselves and inform the public with accurate information

This is the official offer in full

Original offer wasn't fully funded and this was before energy costs increased massively, a reduction in predicted energy costs isn't enough to square the circle

No additional funding has been made for the original offer,

The 2billion of funding the government says its making available was initially announced as a way of increasing resources for schools, but gov is now saying use this money to plug gap in wage budget meaning we are now expected to not get any additional resources

Also the "headroom" for teachers in part comes from the idea the current poor offer for support staff will not be improved
The lowest paid education workers like TAs who work with the most vulnerable students will get shafted

nationaleducationunion.foleon.com/vote-reject/vo…

After failing to analyse the accuracy of the government’s claim the offer was fully funded @bbcnickrobinson then asks if strikes could happen during exam season referring to "extremists" in NEU, he even referred to one of the current general secretary candidates as an extremist

Even if strikes went ahead during exam season, exams could still be invigilation, for a start invigilators aren't teaching staff and support staff didn't hit the turnout threshold

So suggestion exams will be shut down is a strawman

Also the idea that going on strike for a few days over exam season is extremism could be considered defamatory

I might disagree with @DanielKebedeNEU on some things and have voted for @Niamhms23, but for @bbcnickrobinson to describe him as an extremist is absolutely outrageous, particularly considering other ppl who are quoted and appear on #r4today and didn't get the extremist label

Miriam Cates with her sex ed dossier produced by her NSC was not described as an extremist, but the Christian Nationalism described in the NSC manifesto fits the definition of extreme

Of course I don't think #r4today or @bbcnickrobinson have ever reported on NSCs beliefs

I'd say working with those in the US who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election would be classed as anti democratic and extreme?

https://twitter.com/karamballes/status/1634487967568764928?t=_ZSzO4IUDW5oVUM-A0QP3w&s=19

BBC still provides interviews with Toby Young, considering his antivax claims, the content of the Daily Sceptic etc has the BBC or @bbcnickrobinson ever described him as an extremist?
He's literally claiming vaccines are killing lots of ppl, gov artificially inflates deaths etc

So Young apparently doesn't count as an extremist but calling for a few strike days in June does? 🤷‍♂️

Robinson also tried to make out the other unions were accepting the pay offer and it was just the NEU being difficult,.Mary pointed out others were looking at it.

Well NAHT are now balloting

https://twitter.com/NAHTnews/status/1640673410794545157?s=19