Jeremy Corbyn pledge to end term time pay in schools
“I recently had the honour of meeting the Durham Teaching Assistants at the Durham Miners Gala this year. I fully support their campaign to stop the proposal to move them to term time pay, a decision which could plunge this valued workforce into poverty.
“The government must commit to providing the funding to employ teaching assistants every week of the year, recognising the crucial work these dedicated public servants do in our society.
“It is a simple fact that the vast majority of school workers employed on so-called term-time contracts are women, who are effectively paid for just ten months of the year. It is in my opinion unacceptable that Equal Pay legislation is being used as a tool to attack a largely female workforce.
“My friend and comrade Davy Hopper, General Secretary, Durham Miners’ Association, who passed away only last week said: “Education is one of the most important public services we have and frankly it is unbelievable that a Labour Authority is behaving in this way. They should immediately start renegotiating with the Teaching Assistants and sort out this mess. My solidarity is with the Teaching Assistants.”
Easington MP Grahame Morris “I whole-heartedly oppose the decision to substantially cut the income of low paid teaching assistants and I’m appalled that the council would threaten to dismiss and re-engage. The Government must now step up to the plate and commit to funding the wages of teaching assistants all year.”
“I give this commitment that I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with UNISON’s campaign agreed at their conference this year to end the imposition of term time pay and for school workers across the UK to be employed during every week of the year.”
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of Labour Party
