IMPORTANT UPDATE: Barnet Council Group Appeals for school staff

To: Barnet UNISON members working in Barnet Council community schools.

We are currently supporting individual staff in unique roles with their issues.

However there are a number of staff who are in roles which are covered by what are referred to as Group Appeals.

What is a Group Appeal?

This is an appeal for a job where there are a number of post holders such as Teaching Assistant, ICT technician, Nursery Nurse, School Business Manager.

The impact of a Group Appeal directly impacts on all post holders in that role.

Before Barnet UNISON requests an Appeal we will organise meetings and send out invites for members to come along in order we can explain the process.

We have already had a series of successful meetings with Nursery Nurses who provided UNISON with valuable information about the work they do in the classroom. It is important that if you receive a request to attend a UNISON meeting after work that you try to attend one of them.

What is a formal request for an Appeal?

Barnet UNISON will notify Barnet Council to begin the ballot of members about the Appeal. Barnet Council will send a letter to all staff in that specific role asking staff if they support the Appeal request (a simple Yes or No)

It is really important that all members respond immediately that they want the Appeal to go ahead. Barnet UNISON will notify our members the ballot has begun in order we get a high turnout (we need more than 50%)

Just recently UNISON requested an Appeal for Nursery Nurses and we quickly managed to get over 80% of our members all voting YES to supporting our request to take their case to an Appeal Hearing.

What happens in an Appeal Hearing?

The Appeal hearing will be heard by a member of Human Resources (HR) and a Trade Union rep.

Barnet UNISON reps with the support of the Branch Secretary John Burgess will prepare and present the group appeal for our members.

Barnet UNISON will be submitting Stage 2 Appeals for the following roles:

  • Nursery Nurses
  • Teaching Assistants level 2
  • Teaching Assistants level 3
  • Teaching Assistants level 4
  • Breakfast Club/After Club Level 3
  • Mealtime Supervisors

Before Barnet UNISON officially requests the Stage 2 Appeals we need to discuss the grounds with as many of our members as possible.

In order to try and ensure maximum participation we will invite members to attend a number of meetings in the summer term 2017.

If you are in doubt about the process then please do not hesitate to contact the Barnet UNISON office at contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or ring 0208 359 2088 or go onto our website https://www.barnetunison.me.uk/wp/

Download flyer here sCHOOLS leaflet 1