- Conference
- 2011 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 21 October 2010
- Decision
- Carried
Conference applauds the UNISON campaign to Defend Your School.
The schools workforce is predominately female, with women part-time workers outnumbering part-time male staff by ten to one. The majority of these women will be in low paid jobs – as teaching assistants, schools meals staff, admin and clerical staff etc.
Now, government proposals for the creation of academies and free schools threaten their terms and conditions further.
1)Academies and free schools will not be governed by nationally negotiated terms and conditions;
2)In some existing academies there is already evidence of such threats : longer school days – affecting women’s caring responsibilities and without the benefit of additional pay; less generous maternity pay; weekend working which disrupts family life;
3)Despite TUPE protections, existing staff are being pressurised to sign up to new terms and conditions;
4)Schools based budgets are likely to impact on support for school staff – for example in provision of welfare services and reasonable adjustments for disabled staff;
5)Poorer training and development provision is likely to further extend the glass-ceiling which exists in the education workforce, where despite the high numbers of women in teaching and support jobs, a greater proportion of senior teaching and managerial jobs are held by men.
Conference therefore calls upon the national women’s committee to work with the education workforce unit and regional women’s committees to organise in support of the Defend Your School campaign.