Strike!

Yesterday I was on strike.  Here in Germany there are two types of teacher. Civil servants who have more rights, earn more money but are also tied to the state in many ways. Then there are the 'regular' employees who do the same work for less pay.

As a foreigner, I currently fall into the latter category. This is normally reserved for the "old, fat and sick" as one union leader summed it up yesterday.

For a while now, the unions have been in talks with the government to increase our pay in line with the civil servants or at least with inflation. After talks fell through again in February, we were called to strike.

It was an interesting and informative day with the union and there's a follow up strike next week which we are preparing for now.

As my class notice my absence, I explained where I had been and why and they were very grown up and supportive. Explaining polar day and night to them in German today was much more difficult!!