UNISON’s local government service group executive has agreed to explore the possibility of “national action” in defence of school support staff after the government’s announcement that it wants to force all schools in England to become academies by 2022.
At its meeting in early April, the executive said that “a substantial issue on which we are seeking progress is a review on term time-only pay for schools staff.
“The prospect of a new national schools funding formula and the proposal announced in the Budget and the white paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, that all schools [in England] would be forced to become academies by 2022 are creating added uncertainty about the maintenance of terms and conditions for school support staff.
“We note that the main teaching union, the NUT, has agreed to ballot its members for industrial action around the maintenance of national terms and conditions in light of the government’s announcement that it wants all remaining maintained schools to be converted to academies.”
And the executive concluded: “We agree to explore the possibility of similar national action in defence of school support staff terms and conditions and to seek urgent discussion with the NUT and other school unions about coordinated campaigns on schools funding, the forced conversion of maintained schools to become academies and the possibility of co-ordinated action arising from our pay campaign and/or any dispute on maintaining terms and conditions for school support staff.”
