UNISON members at Ash Field Academy, a special educational needs school in Evington, Leicester, have voted to reject a pay offer from their employer and continue industrial action into the Autumn term.
This follows 19 days of industrial action in the Summer Term, leading up to an all out strike in the final week.
The strikes are scheduled for Wednesday August 30, Thursday August 31, Friday September 1, Wednesday September 6, Thursday September 7, and Friday September 8.
The union, which represents more than two-thirds of the staff at the school, undertook a consultative ballot throughout the Summer break. The results showed that 84% of members rejected the employer’s latest offer, with 72% voting for strikes, on a turnout of 79% — decisively beating the government’s 50% threshold.
The employer’s latest offer corrects a historic pay inequity at the school and provides a one off payment of £1,075. This is in addition to the £1,925 below inflation pay rise provided through the local government settlement.
Tom Barker, the UNISON steward at Ash Field said:
“Ash Field has paid its support staff less than any other setting over a period of many years, leaving its support staff more vulnerable when the cost of living crisis hit.
“As a result of industrial action, the school has now been forced to correct this historic pay injustice. However, their pay settlement for the year 2022-2023 still represents a real terms pay cut.
“The employer says that they really appreciate and value their support staff. The problem is that they said the same thing when, for close to a decade, they were paying us less than any other comparable workplace.
“If the employer really appreciated its support staff, they need to put their money where their mouth is. They should use a small part of the millions of pounds they have in reserves – money which was in large part accumulated by underpaying support staff – to lift the -pay of its workforce.”
“We have consistently explained to the employer that members cannot afford anymore pay cuts and are not interested in one off payments. Our consultative ballot clearly backs this up.”
A UNISON member at Ash Field who wished to remain anonymous said:
“I have voted to continue to strike as it is about time our hard work and dedication to our school and its pupils is recognised.
“The cost of living crisis has hit many people hard but especially our staff who have had their wages held back by the academy for so many years.
“Due to receiving low pay I have had to cut back on a lot of things just to be able to pay basic bills and just to get through each month,
“I will continue to strike until a proper pay rise is offered and not an insulting one. What we are requesting is not unreasonable.”
Another member of support staff, who also asked to be unnamed, said:
“We work extremely hard to provide the best possible education and care to the children and young people we work with.
“It’s a highly skilled, emotionally and physically demanding job, and our hard work isn’t being paid for fairly. We are all suffering because of this, as are our families.
“All we want is to be paid a fair wage that means we can afford to live. That’s the reason I am continuing to strike.”
A third member said:
“I voted to continue with strike action as the trust needs to recognise our worth.
“They place high expectations on staff and need to match that to our salaries.
“Our work is very rewarding but at the same time challenging both physically and mentally.
“All of us give a lot of ourselves to bring about positive outcomes for our pupils but it’s not reflected in our income.”
UNISON Leicester City branch is holding a public meeting at Highfields Community Centre at 1pm on Saturday August 26 to discuss the dispute with the public, including parents of students who attend the school, as well as how to fight the cost of living crisis more generally.
Speakers at the meeting will include Julia Mwaluke, the national Vice President of UNISON, Dave Jones, a local government representative for UNISON’s National Executive Council, as well as members involved in the dispute at Ash Field Academy.
