- Conference
- 2023 National Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 15 February 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that school members make up around a third of the branch membership in many areas, but they remain difficult to organise. Conference also welcomes the various organising projects, some funded by the Branch Support and Organising Fund (BSOF), that are being developed around some branches and regions that aim to raise our collective power in those workplaces.
Conference also notes the serious financial challenges facing schools and the impact this has on UNISON members working in schools in the form of redundancies and cuts to working hours.
Conference believes despite government announcements to the contrary that schools are considerably underfunded there continues to be a lack of investment in education. Many schools struggle to afford some of the basic day to day provisions and have to rely on parental contributions or, in some circumstances, staff purchasing items using their own money.
Conference notes the excellent training on local government finances recently provided by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) for UNISON activists within the local government service group.
Conference believes that similar training, specifically focusing on schools funding, budgets and finances would be of huge benefit to UNISON activists within the local government service group to enable them to better understand school finances and also to help challenge decisions taken by schools which result in cuts to support staff jobs. Such training could also be offered to the BSOF projects organising in schools.
Conference therefore instructs the Local Government Service Group Executive to work with the National Schools Committee to provide such training on local government finances and specifically school finances and funding.