School Meals Workers — UNISON Needs to Hear From You

June 2026

If you work for ISS Catering in a Barnet school, please read this.

The council’s contract with ISS is coming to an end in March 2027. That does not necessarily mean your job ends — it may mean a change of employer, or it may mean staying with ISS under a new arrangement — but there will be changes, and UNISON needs to be on top of this from the start to protect your rights.

I have already been into meetings with Barnet Council management about what this means for catering staff and I will be going back in. I am pushing hard on the things that matter most — your pay, your London Living Wage, your pension, and making sure any transfer is handled properly and fairly. I am also making the case directly to the council and to elected councillors that bringing this service back in-house — so that you become council employees again — is the right thing to do. That fight is ongoing.

But I need to hear from you.

Our membership records are not always up to date, and things may have changed since many of you moved from the council to ISS back in 2016. I cannot represent you properly without knowing your current situation.

Please get in touch and let me know:

• What job you are currently doing and which school you are based at
• Whether your terms and conditions have changed since you moved to ISS — for example your pay, your hours, your holiday entitlement
• Whether you are still in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) or whether your pension arrangements have changed
• Whether your contact details or home address have changed
• Whether you have any concerns or issues you want me to know about

Everything you tell me is treated in confidence. It comes to me directly and stays with me — I am not passing anything to ISS or to the council.

I know many of you will have questions I cannot fully answer yet. Things are still being worked out and I would rather be honest with you than give you information that turns out to be wrong. What I can tell you is that UNISON is in the room, I am attending every meeting, and your rights under TUPE mean your core terms and conditions are legally protected through any transfer.

Even if you have no concerns right now, please still get in touch with your current role and contact details. Every reply strengthens our position.

Contact Barnet UNISON directly: 📧 contactus@barnetunison.org.uk 📞 020 8359 2088

Not yet a UNISON member?

If a colleague has shared this with you and you are not yet in UNISON, now is exactly the right time to join. You can sign up at unison.org.uk/join or contact John directly and he will help you join over the phone.

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