Striking TAs "determined"

Just before the summer holidays is not a good time to lose two days pay. But thousands of teaching assistants have decided to do it anyway by taking part in the local government pay strike.
On the second day of the strike, hundreds of schools have been forced to close again because of the industrial action by support staff.
Pictured here are TAs on the picket line at Jubilee School in the London Borough of Hackney. Twenty eight teaching assistants at the school have joined the strike, closing the school along with eleven others in the borough, according to Unison.
Unison says, "Many UNISON members are low-paid, part-time women workers, struggling to pay the bills - losing two days pay for strike action is not something we do lightly. We are striking because the employers won't even consider talking to us about a better offer.
"We know that the services we provide are essential to our community, and that shutting them down for two days will cause disruption and we're genuinely sorry if you are inconvenienced. We just can't afford another pay cut.
And unless we get a fair settlement on pay, local communities will suffer too. Services will simply get worse as councils continue to lose committed staff and struggle to find new employees prepared to work for such low pay."