Important advice for clinically extremely vulnerable and clinically vulnerable
Important advice for clinically extremely vulnerable and clinically vulnerable
Please click on UNISON link to the advice here Vulnerable-members-advice-Jan-2021
National Campaigns
Please click on UNISON link to the advice here Vulnerable-members-advice-Jan-2021
These figures provided by the Government fly in the face of their propaganda that “schools are safe” as our branch is only too aware Nursery Schools and Early Years settings were not included in the latest lockdown plans.
The Government made a political decision at the time to ignore the science and force the settings to reopen fully.
Last week they continued their bullying approach to this sector by threatening to cuT their funding unless they all fully reopened.
Does the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson even read his own Departments reports???
Clearly not looking at their own latest figures
“Reported coronavirus (COVID-19) notifications by registered early years and childcare settings. Updated 25 January 2021.”
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Barnet UNISON statement:
When lockdown was first instigated in March last year the Parking Service was temporarily suspended not just in Barnet but across a number of London Councils.
We are now in a more critical situation in that this latest COVID strain is clearly more transmissible with 1 in 30 Londoners testing positive for COVID.
The London Mayor has stated “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”
Our members are genuinely fearful that there is a very real and present risk to themselves and a risk to their families. There is increased risk of contracting COVID when travelling to and from work on public transport and it is widely accepted that there is an increased risk for members of the BAME community. Please note a high proportion of the NSL workforce are from the BAME community
Our members working for NSL are at a loss to understand why the Parking Service which is not an emergency service is carrying on as business as usual.
The spirit of the lockdown appears to be trying to limit the mixing and movement of people to only those services which are critical.
Parking Enforcement is not am essential/critical service.
Barnet UNISON will be organising a zoom meeting for our NSL members and will be reporting back to them as to what I have been doing on their behalf.
We are asking that in light of the mounting pressure on our London Hospitals and NHS staff can the decision to keep Parking Services be reviewed as a matter of urgency?
End.
“Dear XXX
We apologise for writing to you at such a difficult time. We know the intense pressure schools are under, both as a result of Covid-19 and because of the repeated sudden changes in Government policies.
However, yesterday the Department for Education (DfE) e-mailed you about recent advice UNISON and the National Education Union (NEU) gave its members on the safety of face-to-face teaching in schools.
This email followed Gavin Williamson saying in Parliament: ‘I’d like to thank both the National Education Union and UNISON for recognising the fact that the action that they took and the advice that they gave their members on Sunday was incorrect and that they have withdrawn that advice”. Gavin Williamson was simply wrong. At no point have UNISON or the NEU said the guidance and advice to members was incorrect.
That advice was issued before 4 January when Government was directing all schools to remain fully open to all pupils. On the 4 January, Government directed the closure of schools except for the attendance of vulnerable children and those of critical workers. Because of this radical change of Government direction, we removed the advice on section 44 from our websites. But this emphatically does not mean we believe face-to-face work with full or near full classes in schools is safe in the current circumstances – far from it. Neither does the removal of this advice from our websites indicate that we do not believe it was the right advice to give at the time.
Contrary to the impression given by the DfE circular, the existence of the new strain of the virus greatly exacerbates the serious risks to the health and safety of those working in schools. It is irrelevant that the new strain of the virus may not cause more serious illness in those children or adults who are infected by it. The increase in risk arises from the fact that the new strain is highly transmissible, between 50-74% more transmissible than pre-existing variations of Covid-19, according to London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The historic data on infection rates among teachers referred to by the DfE fails to capture the greatly increased threat arising from the new strain.
It is because of the new strain that infection rates and the R number have dramatically increased since December. It was precisely because of the “increase in risk associated with the new variant” that SAGE recommended closing schools as part of a strategy of strengthening control measures at its meeting on 22 December. That is why the Government finally decided to close schools to most pupils; and that is why school staff faced a greater risk of catching Covid-19 than they did before. This is, or should be, obvious to the DfE and Government.
In that light, is completely inadequate for the DfE to assert that the existing controls in school “create an inherently safer [sic] environment for children, young people and staff” and that the “way to control this virus is the same, whatever the variant”. Members who work in schools have a right to work in a safe working environment, and workers who reasonably believe they are facing serious and imminent danger have the right to leave the workplace. The effect of those rights must be fundamentally reassessed owing to the greater risk of transmission posed by the new variant of Covid-19. The same applies to the existing control measures adopted in schools.
We only summarise the relevant legal provisions below. The key point is that all these legal duties must now be viewed in circumstances where Covid-19 is much more transmissible than it was before owing to the new strain.
We hope that that this makes our position clear and corrects the impression given by the e-mail from the DfE.
Finally we would like to show our appreciation for the work of our sister head teachers unions NAHT and ASCL during this difficult period. We have shared this letter with them and know that they are as exasperated with the Government as you are.
UNISON’s National Schools Committee and representatives of UNISON’s FE committee met with Department for Education (DfE) and NHS Test and Trace officials on Tuesday 22nd December to discuss the Government’s plans for mass testing of school staff and pupils in secondary schools and colleges in England in January. Amongst a host of issues the committee highlighted concerns about the reliability of the proposed tests, numbers and roles of staff that would be involved, potential increased workloads, full training, availability of appropriate PPE, face coverings and the roll out of the programme to Primary and Special Schools.
In particular the committee made clear that whilst we support the use of mass testing in schools, that due to concerns with the high rate of false negative lateral flow test results , this test should not be used as an alternative to self-isolation of close contacts and bubbles following conformed Covid cases. The British Medical Journal, World Health Organisation, Royal Society of Statisticians and Royal College of Pathologists have all warned that these tests can miss a substantial proportion of cases and should not be used alone to identify the infection. Additionally, government figures from a mass testing pilot in Liverpool in over 5,000 people without symptoms showed that up to half of positives were missed, which included up to 30% who had high viral loads and so had a higher risk of infecting others. Recent press reports have also suggested that some of these community based pilots may be suspended whilst further analysis is carried out.
Therefore UNISON calls on the DfE not to rush ahead with programme in January, but to work with schools on a sensible timetable. It is also vital that the Department amends its mass testing guidance to make clear that schools should use testing only as an ‘additional’ measure to identify potential asymptotic cases and not as an alternative to self-isolation of all close contacts and bubbles. DfE communications should also explain that the lateral flow test cannot confirm that an individual has not been infected with Covid-19, as this could lead to a false sense of security by people who test negative, which could lead them to unintentionally spread the virus.
We also call on the DfE to advise schools to continue on-line learning in January beyond the first week currently proposed. Full re-opening should only commence when schools and local public health authorities are satisfied that local infection rates are at levels which make it safe for staff, pupils and communities to return. We continue to call on government to rapidly expand the provision of laptop and internet access to ensure that all pupils have access to online learning.
UNISON’s schools committee previously agreed that:
Dear Member
UNISON National has responded to widespread calls for advice for all of our members working I schools, nurseries and early years settings.
The draft email below is for members to send to their Head Teacher.
Please copy in Barnet UNISON when you send in the email contactus@barnetunison.org.uk
Model letter for UNISON members in schools, nurseries and early years in England
Dear [insert name of head/employer],
Re: Health & Safety
I am writing to you following the increase in transmission and infection rates currently recorded across England.
You are, I am sure, aware that you have legal duties to protect the health, safety and welfare of your staff and pupils. Those duties arise under the following legislation: –
The most recent advice from SAGE is that schools should not open in January[1] other than for children of key workers and vulnerable children. This is because the scientific advice is that it is not safe for schools to open. There are new variants of Covid-19 that are highly infectious and infection rates have increased significantly since schools closed.
I appreciate that measures have been in place since September to allow the school to open but according to SAGE those measures may no longer be sufficient. They state in their most recent report: –
The introduction of Tier 4 measures in England combined with the school holidays will be informative of the strength of measures required to control the new variant but analysis of this will not be possible until mid-January.
Based on the above I do not believe that it is safe for me to return to [insert name of school].
If I do attend [name of school] I believe that this will present a serious and imminent danger to my health and safety.
I am therefore writing to inform you that I am exercising my contractual right not to attend an unsafe place of work. I believe that not attending work in the current circumstances is an appropriate step for me to take for the following reasons:
In the meantime, I am of course willing to carry out any of my duties or alternative agreed duties at my grade that can be undertaken from my home, and to be in school supporting provision and the learning of key worker and vulnerable children where necessary.
Yours sincerely,
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948606/s0991-sage-meeting-74-covid-19.pdf
Please note this advice applies to all primary schools, special schools, SEND and early years settings in England.
You can read the advice in full on the UNISON website here
Dear members,
Firstly, I hope you, your family and friends are keeping well and have been coping through this protracted period of anxiety and isolation caused by Covid19.
Owing to the virus, Barnet UNISON’s work regarding the term-time pay dispute was temporarily curtailed. This impacted my job as campaign organiser.
I am pleased to tell you that I am now able to resume my union role.
Barnet UNISON remains committed to trying to gain the best possible outcome for all members who have been discriminated against as a result of the incorrect formula being used to calculate your pay.
Many of you have already completed and submitted a hard copy of the CASE form that we have passed on to the union’s solicitors who are dealing with this collective grievance.
There are, however, lots of members who did not respond to our previous communications or complete a form.
This may be because I was unable to secure a meeting in your school prior to lockdown owing to a lack of response from school management. Our branch Secretary, John Burgess, sent letters to all Head Teachers and members but we did not receive responses from everyone. In addition, growing concerns around the virus began to interrupt my work towards the end of February.
Action Plan:
There is no guarantee that the branch will win exactly what we aim for on your behalf but there is strength in numbers. The more members who decide to make a claim as part of the collective grievance, the greater our chances of success.
I am unlikely to be able to visit any schools for the foreseeable future because of the rules regarding gatherings and social distancing. Now is, therefore, the time for you to organise yourselves. Please consider acting as a workplace convenor or co-convenor with one of your colleagues.
We have created a streamlined CASE form for completion online. You simply need to populate it and return as an attachment by email. I will be sharing detailed guidance on this soon. Please note, we are now unable to process paper copies of the form as we are not operating from the branch office.
If you require any further advice prior to the next communication from the branch, you can email me.
Take care & stay safe.
Kind Regards
Nadia Joseph
Term Time Pay Organiser
Barnet UNISON
Dear Barnet UNISON members
The following Joint Trade Union proposals were sent to Barnet Council on Wednesday 4 November 2020.
We will update members as soon as we have a response.
UNISON National issue this statement on schools which you can view here
COVID Plus. Front line workers
For the purposes of this proposal frontline means workers who cannot work from home.
COVID Plus for home workers.
Stay safe
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary
Barnet UNISON.
Dear UNISON members
Please read extract from UNISON National Schools Committee Statement – 2 November 2020
“Therefore, during the new lockdown – to ensure the safety of pupils, staff and the community – schools and nurseries should move back to the arrangements implemented during the first lockdown earlier this year. This would mean keeping schools and nurseries open for children of key workers and vulnerable children, ensuring that they maintain their education and get a hot meal. Online learning should be put in place for all other children – with government providing IT equipment for disadvantaged pupils, so that they can learn from home effectively.
However, as the government intends to push the new measures through parliament on Wednesday, urgent steps are needed now to protect staff and pupils in schools that are open:
These should include:
1. Reduce risks by maximising social distancing and implement existing contingency plans for reduced class sizes and home learning (schools already have these plans in plans in place).
2. Reduce bubble sizes and introduce rotas to reduce risks.
3. Staff remaining within one bubble; so reducing the risk of spread across the school.
4. Moving whole bubbles to home learning where a pupil or member of staff develops coronavirus symptoms or receives a positive test.
5. Ensure that all school staff have priority access to the test and trace system.
6. Require all pupils and staff to wear face coverings while at school (including classrooms) as is policy in other countries e.g. France. Clear face masks to be made available so that pupils and staff who need to read lips are not disadvantaged. There should be exemptions for pupils and staff who cannot wear face coverings.
7. Move all clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV), clinically vulnerable (CV) and pregnant staff (3rd trimester) to home working as they are at the highest risk from becoming seriously ill if they catch the virus. CEV and CV staff who cannot work from home to stay at home on full pay.
8. Individual risk assessments for staff in high risk groups, such as Black staff, men over 50 and those with a BMI over 30. Staff identified as being at particular risk should also be allowed to work from home.
9. Permit and encourage staff (and pupils aged 16 and over) to use the NHS COVID app in school, including classrooms, as per DfE guidance.
10. Stronger measures on school transport and at the school gates to stop mixing, ensure social distancing and the wearing of face coverings.
11. Increase funding to schools to cover the increased costs of cleaning
UNISON-National-Schools-Committee-Statement