- Conference
- 2022 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 18 February 2022
- Decision
- Carried
The school system has continued to fragment away from local authorities with the expansion of academies and large Multi Academy Trusts (MATs).
Conference notes that Local Authorities have been consistently undermined by the government to drive maintained schools to convert. Strategies have ranged from temporary MAT membership for schools that are ‘nervous’ about joining Trusts, to the phasing out of the School Improvement Monitoring Grant over the next two years – further weakening the support Local Authorities can offer maintained schools.
As MATs have grown, many now go beyond local authority and regional boarders. Decisions taken by these employers therefore no longer impact just one school, branch or even region of the union.
Conference believes the fragmentation of the education system is such that a comprehensive organising strategy is required that brings UNISON members and branches together across local authority boarders on a scale not previously seen.
Conference notes this situation presents a number of challenges, but also recruitment and organising opportunities.
Ensuring MAT’s pay into local authority facility time budgets, developing reps within MATs and establishing meaningful industrial relationships with employers must be key priorities. In time MATs will also seek to establish a single pay and grading structure. This is not necessarily a negative development and through rep training UNISON can negotiate positive improvements for members.
Conference understands that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on areas such as cleaning and catering are also a key bargaining priority for the union.
All staff play an important role in the education of pupils – which has been further highlighted by the pandemic – yet many privately contracted staff are facing a period of uncertainty and low pay as the impact of Covid-19 and cost of living crisis takes hold. Low sick pay in this sector is a sufficient issue in light of the government’s isolation requirements.
In a recent UNISON survey of school meals staff, one in five were worried that children are not receiving properly nutritional meals due to menu changes.
Local Authorities depend on SLAs with schools to provide important income. Conference believes that these arrangements should be promoted as they ensure quality provision together with decent terms and conditions for staff.
However, where SLAs are outsourced to private companies, conference believes there should be campaigns for them to be brought in-house or that procurement is considered with local authorities.
In seeking to strengthen our ability to organise in schools, conference calls on the Local Government Service Group to:
1)Further strengthen the fight against cuts to school funding;
2)Develop more effective alliances with a range of outside organisations, such as the various local government associations, school leaders and political parties, to help secure equitable funding for schools;
3)Establish an organising review of schools that incorporates a recommended framework for branches and regions to coordinate activity and negotiations with MATs that cross local authority and regional borders;
4)Roll out job evaluation training for reps to prepare for consolidated pay and grading structures in these MATs;
5)Establish benchmarking of terms and conditions for private sector outsourced school staff with a view to running campaigns to improve terms and conditions through either local authority contracts or bringing the services in-house;
6)Campaign for all schools to be NJC-aligned.