Emergency Barnet UNISON schools members meeting and advice
Dear Member
Early this week the National Education Union (NEU) announced that they have successfully completed a strike ballot for industrial action.
The NEU have announced the strike dates which will impact on Barnet Schools:
- Wednesday 1 February (England and Wales)
- Thursday 2 March (London, South East, South West)
- Wednesday 15 March (England and Wales)
- Thursday 16 March (England and Wales)
Our branch has already begun to receive communications from our members working in Barnet Schools as to what this means for them.
Today, Thursday 19 January 2023, we have received advice from UNISON National Advice.
Now that we have the advice we have decided to call an emergency Barnet UNISON schools meeting at which we will have speakers from the NEU. We have UNISON speakers ready to take questions on how we are going to support our members on these strike days.
The Barnet UNISON meeting is on Thursday 26 January 6-7 pm please click on the link below to join the meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85006232648?pwd=TC9lUWpWUWUyOTY1WjM3STBxQTk1Zz09
Meeting ID: 850 0623 2648
Passcode: 960864
Below is the UNISON advice to our members. We have highlighted in bold and underlined some key parts of the advice.
“UNISON Advice
UNISON respects the rights of other trade unions to take industrial action and supports the other unions’ strike action. We urge members to support legal protests and rallies organised by NEU that take place outside your contracted hours of work.
However, UNISON members in schools and sixth form colleges have not been balloted for strike action or action short of strike action on this occasion and are therefore advised to continue with their normal duties and responsibilities. UNISON members should not take on any additional responsibilities being given to them directly as a result of other unions’ industrial action.
Support staff should not be expected to provide cover for, or take classes, where this would normally be done by teachers who are taking action. Staff should not be moved from the duties they would normally have carried out in order to cover work and frustrate the industrial action of colleagues. This includes any staff employed as either HLTAs or Cover Supervisors. In Cymru/Wales, in workplaces where NEU members who are support staff are taking strike action, UNISON members should not be moved to cover those colleagues’ duties either. Members who are under pressure to provide cover for striking colleagues should contact their UNISON rep, branch or region for further advice and support.
Members are reminded that due to industrial relations legislation only those employees who have been involved in a legal ballot are allowed to take industrial action.
HLTAs and Cover Supervisors
Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) should only do ‘Specified Work’ with the support and/or supervision of a Qualified Teacher. Cover Supervisors supervise students who are working to a lesson prepared by a Qualified Teacher, usually a classroom teacher. If you are in either of these roles you should not be expected to take whole classes on the day of a strike if the teacher that normally supervises, supports or prepares your work is on strike.
DfE Guidance on Industrial Action in Schools (England only)
The DfE have updated and recirculated their guidance on industrial action in schools. The guidance is non-statutory, this means that schools are not obliged to follow the guidance.
Handling strike action in schools – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The advice makes clear that for maintained schools the decision on whether to close a school or not is the responsibility of the headteacher, and for academies it rests with the Trust. However, this decision is usually delegated to the headteacher.
The guidance is aimed at headteachers advising them on ways that they can try and keep their school open. This includes guidance on the recent government legislation allowing agency staff to cover strike action. UNISON is currently challenging the legality of this legislation and it is not accepted by many agencies. If you are aware of any instances of agency staff being brought in to cover striking colleagues, please report this to your regional office.
The guidance also suggests that schools can use some of the emergency measures introduced during the Covid pandemic to keep schools open, including asking staff to provide remote learning. We do not that accept this would fall within the definition of normal work for support staff and they should not be called on to deliver remote learning on strike days.”
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Barnet UNISON office on email to contactus@barnetunison.org.uk or ring and leave a message on 0208 359 2088.
I look forward to seeing you all at our UNISON schools meeting next week on Thursday 26 January 2023.
Best wishes
John Burgess
Branch Secretary
Barnet UNISON