Strong support for joint strike at College of North West London

A UCU officer reported strong support for the joint UCU and Unison strike at the College of North West London today. This was part of a joint national strike across all English colleges demanding £1 per hour extra for all.

UCU said that they are in dispute with college employers because they failed to agree a pay claim aimed at achieving a fair deal for all further education (FE) staff.

Unions claim that the £1 per hour increase is fair, reasonable and not excessive and would go some way to recover the value of pay lost over recent years.

The the Association of Colleges (AoC), however, recommended all of their member colleges to freeze the pay of staff and subsequently declined to re-open talks, despite the recent governmenrt spending review decision to protect core funding for 16-19 year-olds and adult skills would be protected.

Since 2009 Fe workers claim they have received a cut in real terms  of over 17%.

UCU said:

FE has been hit hard by cuts and UCU and others in the sector have campaigned to defend funding. However funding cuts don't tell the whole story, colleges still make choices.

Colleges are deliberately choosing to spend less of their income on staff. Staff are asked to work harder and longer while colleagues lose their jobs and see other terms and conditions cut.

Without the ability to retain and motivate experienced and committed staff, colleges will find it hard to deliver education to our communities.

On Saturday March 5th there will be a conference on Defending Further and Adult Education at SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H OXG.

The conference is supported by UCU, NUS, Action ESOL, NATECLA and the Learning and Work Institute.

Book online HERE

UNISON urges Conservatives to heed Cameron's South Africa sanctions lesson in pension funds row

FROM UNISON

On the eve of their conference last October, the Conservative Party made the surprising announcement they would stop what they call “divisive town hall boycotts and sanctions”. The government planned to address non-existent concerns about “militant divestment campaigns against UK defence and Israeli firms” by introducing new rules to ensure that pension investments and procurement decisions in England and Wales follow UK government foreign policy.

This was clearly pre-conference grandstanding; an opportunity to attack the Labour Party, trade unions and campaign groups like the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). It is unlikely the Conservative Party really believe “the militant actions of left-wing councils” threaten to “poison community relations and harm Britain’s economic and international interests”, but a gesture to the Israeli government, concerned about EU restrictions on settlement goods, may aid diplomatic relations.

In recent months a number of companies have announced their withdrawal from the illegally occupied West Bank, influenced by the efforts of pension scheme members and the public. The Israeli government have responded by lobbying their counterparts for new laws to restrict boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), with some success, particularly in the US and now the UK.

In November the Department of Communities and Local Government launched a consultation outlining their plans for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Whilst some of the changes are to be welcomed, others give the government unprecedented control over how, and in whose interest, pension funds are invested.

The government want the ability to directly intervene in the investment process in two key ways. Firstly they propose that a proportion of LGPS funds will have to be invested in UK infrastructure. Secondly they want to impose a requirement that investments follow UK foreign policy, and give the secretary of state the power to intervene if they don’t.

It’s clear from the Conservative press release that they want to stop campaigns such as UNISON and PSC’s work, encouraging UNISON branches up and down the country to use their pension funds’ financial muscle to exert pressure on companies that continue to support the illegal occupation of Palestine. Although UK foreign policy recognises “settlements are illegal under international law”, this doesn’t mean that pension funds will be able to divest from companies that support, and financially benefit from, the occupation. The government only highlight the risks of doing business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, allowing UK companies to decide whether or not to comply with international law.

UNISON believes that pension fund investments should be made in the interests of scheme members, and this is reflected in the EU ‘IORP’ Directive/41/2003 on pensions and the advice of the government’s Law Commission. A pension scheme’s primary concern should be getting a good return for scheme members, but it should also take members concerns into account. If scheme members don’t want their pensions invested in companies involved in the illegal occupation of Palestine, or the manufacture of arms, then their pension fund should take this into account.

UNISON is working hard to get the requirement for pension funds to follow UK Foreign Policy to be dropped, along with the requirement to invest in UK infrastructure. UNISON branches all over the country are responding to the government’s consultation, arguing that the proposed changes breach the EU directive on pensions, and calling for members’ pensions to be invested in members’ interests, not in the interests of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Other groups working on environmental issues, arms and human rights are also concerned that the changes will also impact on them, and are responding to the consultation. You should do the same, before it closes on 19 February.

The government won’t consult on their proposed changes to procurement regulations; they will simply try to issue a revised policy note banning boycotts. The Thatcher government passed similar legislation as part of the infamous 1988 Local Government Act, to stop local councils boycotting companies doing business with apartheid South Africa.

In 2006 David Cameron said “The mistakes my party made in the past with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now”. We hope his party does listen before they make the same mistake all over again.


UNISON has produced a guide to pension fund engagement and divestment:  LINK

On line tool to add your voice to the campaign LINK

Barnet UNISON 24 hour strike on Monday November 2nd

Barnet UNISON members who still work for Barnet Council (excluding community schools) will begin a 24 hour strike action on Monday 2 November 

The dispute involves social workers, coach escorts, drivers, occupational therapists, schools catering staff, education welfare officers, library workers, children centre workers, street cleaning & refuse workers, all of whom have made it clear they want to remain employees of Barnet Council and don’t want to be outsourced.

In November 2015 a number of Barnet Council Committees will be making decisions about the future employment of staff working in

· Education and Skills and School Meals

· Adult Social care

· Children’s Centres

This is all part of the wider strategy to reduce the workforce to a small core of commissioners.

Our Picket Lines will be:

· Barnet House from 7 am.

· Mill Hill Depot—Starts 6 am onwards.

· Edgware Library —Start 9 am onwards.

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said:

Our members want to work for the Council, they want to be directly accountable to the residents of Barnet. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which will have to place the shareholders’ legal demands before local residents’ needs. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which uses zero hours contracts. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which will not pay the London Living Wage as a basic minimum. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which won’t allow their colleagues to belong to their Pension Scheme, and our members don’t want to work for an employer which will take jobs out of the borough. That’s why 87% of our members working for the Council voted ‘Yes’ to taking strike action. So far the Council has failed to come close to agreeing to any one of these demands. One of our members has written and produced a music campaign video called “UNISON Army” which pretty much sums up the mood of our members take a look. (see above)  

Direct action needed to challenge the Trade Union Bill

The government's Trade Union Bill represents an assault on the last bastion of opposition to neo-liberalism a crowded meeting at Learie Constantine Centre heard last night. The meeting, organised by Brent Central Labour Party and Brent Trades Union Council, heard from John Burgess of Barnet Unison, Michael Brady of Unite the Resistance, Ian Hodson of the Bakers' union BFAWU and Hank Roberts of the ATL.  Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central rounded off the discussion with an account of current events in Parliament.

Although they addressed the issue from different perspectives all contributors emphasised the seriousness of the attack on trade union rights and its potential impact on conditions of employment and social justice.

John Burgess, who is currently standing for election as General Secretary of Unison LINK outlined the exemplary Unison campaign in Barnet against the council's privatisation agenda which will see most services out-sourced. He said that he'd had a meeting with Muhammed Butt, Labour leader of Brent Council, to tell him not to get into bed with Barnet Council. 

Michael Brady spoke of the need to put words into action and for direct action against unjust laws as soon as any one union or group of workers fell victim to the laws. This was echoed by Ian Hodson who said they 'can't put all of us in prison'. He said the right to withdraw our labour is what makes the duifference between a worker and a slave.

From the floor, Peter Murry, Secretary of the Green Party Trade Union Group, read out Caroline Lucas' statement  denouncing the Bill as a 'savage and vindictive assault on UK employment rights' and underlying her willingness to take part in non-violent direct action if necessary to challenge an unjust law. Dawn Butler remarked that she did not want to end up in prison but clearly saw that as a possibility of the law went through.

Hank Roberst said,  'We must never  underestimate the ruthlessness of these people' and went on to give the context of the assault i education  where first the government had bribed schools to become academies, then threatened them, then forced indiivudual schools to seek sponsors and were now trying to force all schools to become academies. The final destination was for schools to be ru for profit.

In a contributionfrom the floor I spoke about the need to be aware of, and build solidarity, over other attempts to curb rights in the Counter Extremism Bill, Prevent Strategy, Extremism Disruption Orders and plans to repeal the Human Rights Act. The Trade Union Bill was part of a wider strategy to use the label of Extremist against those challenging the governemnt and turn us all into 'Domesticated Moderates'.

There will be a lobby of parliament on the TU Bill on Monday November 2nd. Details below:

For those who can't make the lobby there will be an 'After Work' protest on Mondat at 6pm in Parliament Square. Organised by the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group the speakers will include Matt Wrack (FBU General Secretary), Christine Blower (NUT General Secreary), Steve Gillian (POA General Secretary) Jo Stevens MP, Lisa Cameron MP and Natalie Bennett (Leader, Green Party).

Resisting the Trade Union Bill Meeting Tomorrow

Tory Barnet and Labour Brent outsourcing: similarities and differences as Barnet Unison votes to strike

Barnet Tory  'Easy Council' is facing industrial action over its outsourcing of services to private companies. 87% of Unison council workers have voted for strike action over the five commissioning projects that were agreed at the March 5th Full Council meeting. 

The proposals would mean outsourcing the majority of the Council workforce into one of five 'alternative delivery models':

1. Education & Skills and School Meals services

2. Library Service

3. Early Years: Children’s Centres

4. Adult Social Care

5. Street Scene Services

In a press release Unison said the Education & Skills and School Meals services is already in Competitive Dialogue discussions with the following contractors:

· Capita Business Services Ltd

· EC Harris LLP

· Mott MacDonald Ltd, trading as Cambridge Education

Looking at Capita’s track record LINK   in bidding and winning contracts it is highly likely they will win this contract making it the third big contract they will have won with Barnet Council.

Unison Branch Secretary John Burgess said:

The vote was never in doubt. The workforce in Barnet is amazing and resilient. The vote confirms that our members have had enough of the ideological obsession with outsourcing. The Council does not value the workforce which can be seen when unpaid overtime and long hours are never recognised when putting together bids for outsourcing projects. The fact that the Council refuses to run in-house comparators has made it clear to our members that their future employment with the Council is threatened.

So where does this leave Brent Labour 'Increasingly uneasy' Council and their own 'alternative  models'? Using the Brent equivalents of the five Barnet services:

1. Brent Council's School Improvement Service has been run down and provides a core service only with many functions handed over to the Brent Schools Partnership. and schools buying in other services from a variety of providers,  School meals have been out-sourced for a long time. In addition the Brent Cabinet on April 14th will be deciding on future provision of Additional Resources Provision and English as an Additional Language  to pupils through a variety of contracts with Academies and Independent schools LINK
2. Brent Council proposed transferring the management  of the library services to an established trust or a new model with similar features.
3. Early Years: Children's Centres - Brent Council has agreed to a partnership arrangement with  the voluntary sector or charities.
4. Adult Social Care: There is a proposal going forward to the Brent Cabinet on April 14th for Extra Care to be provided via Direct Payments and a contract with Plexus/Mears LINK 
5. Street Scene Services (parks refuse etc) Brent has already outsourced street cleaning, recycling, waste collection, parks maintenance, and cemeteries to a sole contractor, Veolia. The Cabinet will also be discussing extending the contract with Gristwood and Toms for Arboricultural  services (dealing with trees beyond what Veolia do as part of the parks maintenance contract).

An additional item at the April 14th Brent Cabinet is a proposal to pay Penoyre and Prasad LLP £831,250  for work on a hybrid planning application for the Peel Site on the South Kilburn estate. LINK

I will leave readers to judge the similarities and differences between the approaches of the two council - one Conservative and the other Labour.  You may also want to consider why Unison's reaction appears to be different in the two councils and whether as a result of the Coalition's cuts to local government that outsourcing is inevitable...

Support the latest strikes of Your Choice Barnet Care Workers

From Barnet Unison
 

UNISON members working for Your Choice Barnet (YCB) have just announced their next strike dates as being 22^nd and 23^rd January. In addition the workers will be attending an event in the House of Commons 28^th January highlighting the conditions for workers in this sector. This will make a total of 6 days of strike action since the dispute began. This is in a bid to reverse the harsh 9.5% pay cut imposed on them by their employer. 

UNISON and YCB have had numerous meetings at ACAS and there has been no improved offer which has come close to being acceptable to the majority of our colleagues. The latest offer made in October 2014, was a 7.9% pay cut and this was resoundingly rejected in a ballot of the membership. The discussions have, however, revealed stark issues imposed on YCB by Barnet Council which make it difficult to see how YCB can survive financially into the future without our members constantly bailing it out through their financial sacrifice. The pensions deficit (an extra 9.8% payment) for the TUPE’d staff was transferred across to YCB, although this did not happen with other contracts in the private sector. Relieving YCB of the pensions’ deficit would restore our members’ pay at one stroke. Not allowing YCB to charge for unplanned “no-shows” (when service users are unable to attend the service at short notice) would potentially halve the pay cut to our members. However, Barnet Council refuses to participate in any of our discussions although ultimately the Council holds the purse strings.

Meanwhile our members tell us they are working harder than ever with increasing levels of stress and no prospect of a pay rise. They report the first day they have off from work is used simply to recover from the stressful week they have had. The pay cut has left many of our colleagues finding it particularly hard to make ends meet.  They have made it clear to us they want to see a substantial shift in any new proposals from YCB in order to end the dispute. 

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said:

Our members held back from taking action before Christmas in order not to disrupt the service for service users and their carers at such a sensitive time of the year. This demonstrates again their professionalism and dedication but also their determination to stand up to attacks on their terms and conditions.

22nd January  & 23rd January Picket Line details 

1.Flower Lane Day Centre

41 Flower Lane
Barnet
London NW7 2JN

2. Rosa Morrison Day Centre

83 Gloucester Road
TotteridgeBarnet 

London EN5 1NA

Will privatisation of Brent Council's Library Management damage the service?

There are so many proposals to cut and out-source services under consideration by Brent Council that it is all too easy to miss some important issues.

Labour Brent Council has closed six of the borough's 12 libraries. Now, as well as proposing to cut the amount spent on library stock the Council is also considering out-sourcing the management of the library service as a way of saving on rates. This is the proposal (ENS18) in the documentation that went to Cabinet last month LINK

To change the management of the library service to a trust arrangement. The exact arrangement will need to be determined. Within London, five authorities deliver their services in conjunction with other authorities, one delivers through a charitable trust established by the Council which also delivers other services such as leisure centres and seven have outsourced delivery to a social enterprise or a private sector provider. Elsewhere in the country, some library services have been outsourced to a staff-managed mutual or social enterprise, and larger library services have been commissioned to run smaller ones.  Charitable organisations are eligible for an 80% rebate on NNDR. Changes to rules on business rates in 2013 mean that 70% of the cost of this rebate is borne by Central Government with the remainder being covered by the local authority. Therefore the saving to the Council on business rates of transferring a library service to the charitable sector is 56% of the total rates bill - in Brent this amounts to a saving of approximately £160K. The exact level of savings would depend on the tenders received.

It will take approximately 12 months to complete this work and switch to a new management arrangement.

How would this affect users of this service?

• There would have to be public consultation and a full impact assessment before proceeding.

• There would be no direct impact on service users as there will be no reduction or significant change in service levels or quality.

The  last bullet point is likely to be challenged during the consultation. On his blog  LINK Public Libraries campaigner and member of Voices for the Library, Alan Wylie, explored the issue:

Only a year after being awarded the accolade of the 2017 'City of Culture' Hull City Council are proposing to set up a "leisure company" to take over the running of their leisure facilities, libraries, museums, park ranger and catering services. Now one thing strikes me straight away about this; why are libraries part of the bundle, after all they are statutory and they aren't in my opinion solely a leisure service? 

The answer to the above question probably lies in the fact that most councils place their library services in 'Culure & Leisure' directorates, that someone including the LGA has been perpetrating the myth that libraries are non-statutory, that we have a government and a Secretary of State who fail to intervene to stop library cuts and closures and that we have a chasm in the leadership and promotion of the national service. Libraries have become easy to offload.
So what is a 'leisure company' or 'leisure trust' and what are some of the issues with this model of privatisation?

"What a Leisure Trust means in practice:

• Leisure services are outsourced to a separate organisation/company. 
• The Council retains ownership of the facilities, which are leased to the Trust.
• Virtually all the savings come from rate reductions and VAT savings, which are much smaller initially because of the high set up costs. 
• Direct democratic control of the service will cease - elected member representation on a trust is limited to less than 20% of the board.
• Company law requires that Board members must put the interests of the leisure trust before those of the local authority. 
• After a year the Trust will usually cease to use council services and will be responsible its own procurement and contracting or corporate and other services."

LINK

Unison Scotland have also raised concerns;

"UNISON is concerned that large sections of public service delivery are being shifted off to arms length bodies with very little research into the effectiveness of such change."

LINK

Recently in Renfrewshire there have been protests against plans to pass the running of similar services to Renfrewshire Leisure Limited (RLL).

LINK

And there are similar plans being proposed by Angus Council and Unison have yet again raised concerns; LINK

 “Unison is not convinced that farming out leisure facilities to arm’s-length trusts improves the service for the public or the staff.

“They are not an alternative means of community ownership of public assets. In fact the policy tends to be used to save local authorities tax.

 
“Our experience so far is some trusts perform satisfactorily after the initial separation but the promised savings, extra funding and other benefits tend not to materialise. 
 
“There is no evidence the public see an improvement in the service nor will the trust see a higher rate of private donations, which are often the reasons put forward.”
 
For more on leisure trusts see LINK

I hope that the Scrutiny Committee and Unison will look at some of these issues in detail and make representations before the Council adopts a move that has the disadvantages outlined above.

Is there a star support worker in your school? Nominate them now

From Unison in Schools

https://www.facebook.com/UNISONinSchools

Is there a star in your school?

On Friday 28 November, we are celebrating school support staff, and the work they do, in schools up and down our country.

Enter our special 'Stars in our schools' competition, and you could win a box of chocolates for yourself AND for a support worker in your school, or your children's school!

Just nominate someone who you think makes a real difference to the school, and especially to the children in the school. You must like this post  AND add a comment telling us why they are amazing - so we can contact you, if you win.

The school worker you nominate doesn't have to be on Facebook, but if they are, please feel free to tag them in.

We're giving away a box of chocolates to TEN school support staff AND the person who nominates them. You can nominate more than once.

We'll let winners know by Thursday 4 December. But please make sure you join in us in celebrating the support staff in our schools on Friday 28 November.

http://www.starsinourschools.uk/

Greens back NHS workers striking for fair pay

Caroline Lucas on the picket line in Brighton

Strking midwives outside Central middlesex Hospital today Phot: Sarah Cox)

The Green Party is supporting NHS workers on strike today alongside other activists and trade unionists.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion was one of many Greens who joined the picket lines this morning.

The Green Party Trade Union Group issued a solidarity message:

The Green Party Trade Union Group sends its support to NHS workers from all the unions who will be on strike today. The severe pay freezes imposed by the government are unjust and part of the unjust neo-liberal policies that punish the poor, the sick,  the vulnerable and also those who provide health care.

As if that were not enough, NHS workers are sometimes doing their utmost to keep an adequate health service running ins pite of misguided marketisation and cut backs.

We all need the work that these workers do and they need a decent wage!

All we are saying is 'Give Us Fair Pay' - NHS strikers at Northwick Park Hospital this morning

Nurses and other health workers were in fine spirits despite the rain when I visited this morning and Shahrar Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party also joined them to express Green party solidarity.

This is why they are striking:

The Green Party Trade Union Group sent the following message of solidarity to the strikers:

The Green Party Trade Union group sends solidarity to all those NHS workers who are striking today. It is a disgrace that in one of thericher nations of the world, we are so misgoverned that workers in our health services are not properly paid for their skilled and dedicated work,whilst the government continually seeks to make the provision of healthavailable as a source of profit to the private sector. GPTU and the Green Party stand for a properly resourced health service staffed by properlypaid workers providing health free at the point of need. Victory to the NHS strikers!

Greens support the Public Sector strike in Brent and Central London

Shahrar Ali (Green party) with pickets

Greens stand alongside unions in million strong public sector strike on Thursday

On July 10 the Green Party will stand alongside unions in the largest one-day strike over pay by public sector employees since 2010.

The Green Party have pledged to support the employees’ right to strike and to picket peacefully in order to assert their right to fair wages and proper treatment. Public sector employees are facing unprecedented financial hardship with part-time and female employees the most affected under the Government’s ideological austerity agenda.

The strike will see more than one million workers protesting the Government policy of frozen and restricted pay and will include workers from the PCS, The National Union of Teachers, Unison, and others.

Thousands of people around the country are forgoing a day’s pay to express their unhappiness with the Coalition Government’s economic attack on public sector employees.

Greens across the country will show their support:

Green MP, Caroline Lucas said:

"It is very clear that austerity isn't working. It's cruel and counterproductive. It should not be the most vulnerable who are paying the price of an economic crisis that was not of their making. People are struggling, the cost of living is rising and it's time the Government recognised the value of workers who provide us with crucial services every day.

"People have had enough, it is time for plan B and it's time for the Government to listen. On July 10, people from all over the country will stand together to make their voices heard loud and clear."

Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett said: 

 "This government's austerity agenda is making public sector employees, joined with benefit recipients, the increasing numbers of poorly paid, and insecure private sector employees, pay for the financial crisis that was not of their making.

“George Osborne is cutting the tax rate for multinational companies and inviting them to dodge even that reduced rate of taxes, and at the same time has slashed the real pay of the dinner ladies, the cleaners, and the local officers who keep our communities running. I'll be showing my support on Thursday by visiting picket lines around my local area of Camden before joining the march and rally in central London.

"We cannot continue to see soaring poverty and dependence on foodbanks in Britain; we need to make the minimum wage a living wage, and ensure local government employees have a chance of decent progression beyond that."

Green Party Trade Union Liaison Officer of GPEW national executive, Romayne Phoenix:

"The economic crisis was caused by the banks; how could it ever be fair - or effective - to fix it by cutting workers' pay? Our public services benefit the majority. This is about not letting those at the top blame the rest of us for problems we didn't cause."

Green MEP for South East, Keith Taylor:

“When the government decides to stop spending their time dismantling public services and oppressing the low paid and unemployed, and instead focusses on reigning in the power and wealth of the top 1%, then I'll have a shred of sympathy for them.

“Until then I am 100% behind the strikers and their efforts to defend our services, and seek decent terms and conditions for public sector workers.”

Kirklees Green Party Councillor, Andrew Cooper commented:

"I'll be joining staff on the Picket line in Huddersfield. Kirklees Jobs and services for local people have suffered greatly due to Coalition targeting of local government for cuts.”
 
 Dudley Councillor and Deputy Leader, Will Duckworth said:
 “I will be on the picket lines early in the morning and then going on the planned demonstration in Birmingham with Dudley Trades Union Council.  We need to fight the Government's attempts to destroy decent pay and pensions for normal working people.”

 The Group of London Green Party Councillors said:

“It can’t go on like this. We can't continue with rapacious cuts to the NHS, the closure of local children's centres, and mounting queues at foodbanks. The government must hear the public's message that cuts are hurting the people of Britain. An alternative economic strategy and an alternative future is possible and together with communities up and down the country we will be out promoting that message on Thursday.”

North West Green Party Representative, Laura Bannister commented:

“In the North West, members will be visiting and taking part in picket lines and supporting the mass rally in Manchester. We are also sending letters of solidarity to regional TU branches on behalf of the regional party"

As a member of the Green Party and the Green Party Trade Union Group, I will be supporting the picket of Brent Civic Centre and the Central London march.

Caroline Lucas supports July 10th public sector strike

Greens are backing the Great Public Sector Strike on July 10th

The Green Party will be supporting the strike of public sector workers taking place next week on Thursday July 10th. Six public sector unions and more than a million workers will be on strike over fair pay and pensions.

The Green Party is strongly supportive of the public sector and the millions of its workers who contribute positively to society as fire fighters, teachers, teaching assistants, council workers and in many other roles.

Government attacks in the form of worsening conditions of services, a virtual pay cut and rise in pension age have been accompanied by privatisation and a substantial cut in local government funding.

This is not just an attack on workers and local government but part of the Government's agenda to roll back the welfare state and the post-war settlement.

Green Party members will be joining picket lines, marches and rallies next Thursday.

In Brent there will be a picket line and demonstration outside the Civic Centre before workers travel to the Central London demonstration which will assemble at Portland Place.

Celebrate Teaching Assistants on Friday

Why we cannot let Gove get rid of our teaching assistants and instead should celebrate them

The role of Teaching Assistant (TA) has been transformed over the last decade or so. The role has been extended and professionalised from the old days of washing up the paints and tacky backing work cards.

Now TAs are involved in teaching 1:1 and in small groups, often through 'Intervention Programmes' for phonics, literacy and maths. Others may carry out speech therapy and physiotherapy with pupils after being trained by the professionals who no longer deliver the programmes themselves. Some act as mentors or counsellors to pupils experiencing problems.

TAs take part in education and training and qualifications such as NVQ :Level 3 or equivalent are required. A recent phenomenon has been graduates taking on the role in order to gain some experience in teaching before undertaking a post-graduate training course.

What they have in common is low pay and usually a 'term-time only'  contract. The cliché 'overworked and underpaid' really does apply: along with 'undervalued'. As spending cuts bite and schools look for 'savings' TAs are more easily dispensed with than teachers and Government questioning of their effectiveness doesn't help.

A further strength, often overlooked but one that I valued as a primary headteacher, is that they are usually part of the local community, know the families out of school as well as in school, and are the public face of the school on the street when often, particularly in cities, teachers live some distance away and commute to work.

Now Unison and the website TeacherRoar have launched a campaign to celebrate the contribution of TAs and, based on my experience in schools and the many wonderful TAs that I have seen in action, one that I am pleased to back. @TeacherROAR has been tweeting TA celebratory stories which will culminate in a Day of Celebration of TAs on Friday November 29th.  Further information can be found on the Unison website HERE and on the TeacherROAR blog HERE

I am grateful to TeacherROAR and Sarah who normally blogs HERE for permission to reproduce an account of her mornig's work as a Teaching Assistant.  Here it is: 

I received an email yesterday from my union. I am a member of Unison and the email was to tell me about a day - 29th November 2013 - a day to celebrate Teaching Assistants. Now why would they be wanting to do that? Why celebrate Teaching Assistants? Well, the reason is because if the UK Government has its way there might not be any Teaching Assistants in schools in the future.

Unison is fighting to save Teaching Assistants. The Government has decided that Teachers can do the job of Teaching Assistants. We are an expensive luxury.

So, let me tell you a little bit about my day and you can decide whether I am an expensive luxury and whether my Teachers can do my duties instead.

I am paid, as are my colleagues, from 8.50 am. I actually arrive each day at 8.25 am and start to prepare for my day. I help my Teacher welcome the Year 1 children and look after any of them who are upset or wobbly that day. I am there for any parent who wants to chat. If a parent needs to chat to my Teacher, I take the children in so they don't have to stand in the cold.

I have organised a rota for myself, (in my own time,) so that I can fit in all the children who need extra help. Working from information collated by my Teacher I have organised the children so that all of of them can reach their potential. By 8.50 I have started 1 to 1 work on phonics, handwriting, reading, number work.At 9.05 I bring out my 2nd group for 15 minutes, catching up on phonics, High Frequency Words. During this time the Teacher has taken Register and is into the Phonics session.

All the time I am listening to the lesson in the classroom, ready to go in if needed, because there are children who have Special Needs and I might be needed to sit with them. In Year 1 children very rarely have been statemented yet so there is no funding for 1 to 1 support. Therefore the General T.A (me) has to be there for them.

By 9.15 the Literacy Lesson starts and I either sit on the carpet with particular children to support them or spend time writing up my interventions so far that morning ( because I have to provide evidence of the work done with the children). Then I start checking reading books. I either change them or initial that the record has been checked. When the children go to their tables to work I go with them. I know which table because I have spent time (my own time) reading the Teacher's detailed plans, emailed to me each week.

Most of the time I work with the children who find school tricky. The Teacher and I alternate daily with the groups so that she spends time with all the children. There are children who find it so hard to sit still, concentrate, form letters. I am there to encourage, push, support, explain.

It's amazing the number of ways you can find to explain a single thing! And it's amazing how many children find the simplest thing (to you and me) impossible to grasp. If I or the Teacher wasn't sitting with them they would not know what to do, how to start. One of my greatest skills is patience. To find yet another way to explain something, but to do it with kindness and humour is what I love to do. And at the same time as I am helping this child there are another 5 on the table who need me too.

Of course the Teacher could sit with them ... but what about the other 25 five year olds?

By 10 am its time for Assembly and I keep a group back to read with. I read with every child in the class at least once a week, assessing their skills and giving them tips and encouragement as we go along. Whether that child gets lots of support at home and loves to read or receives minimum support and finds reading hard, hard, hard -  I find the way to help them achieve their best, help them enjoy reading. The joy of seeing a child move up a level or get excited about a book is just wonderful.

After break (10 minutes) I read the story while the Teacher reads with another group (they try to read with every child once a week too).

Then it's Maths and the same sort of support as I have given in Literacy. My last group goes out with me at 11.50 for a quick recap on numbers - formation, number lines, counting. Then at 12 it's time for home ...

But we don't go home do we? Most T.As in my school stay and get the jobs done that they couldn't do in the morning...like changing reading books, putting up displays, changing the role play area, filing ... It's a rare day that I go home before 12.35 and some days I stay until 1pm, an hour over my paid time. Obviously this is up to me. It's my choice that I stay, but then that's the sort of people T.As tend to be. We don't do our job for the money, we do it because we love it, love the children.

An ordinary morning is what I have described above. I haven't told you about my playground duties, my chats with children whose parents are breaking up, whose granny has died, who have seen their dad beating up their mum... I haven't told you about the chats with parents who are worried or don't "get" phonics. I haven't mentioned helping children who have wet themselves or been sick everywhere or had a massive nose bleed.

Of course the Teacher could do all these things too. She gets into work at 7.30 and stops for lunch at 12.55 ( 15 minutes break ... soooo lazy!!) then works through until 5.30 when she goes home sorts life out for her own children and then carries on with school work. The thing is though that if she did my job, the things I do, then when would she actually be teaching? Or maybe we should just forget about all the small groups I take out, forget about reading with the children?

There are Teaching Assistants in my school who work 1 to 1 with children who are autistic or have long term illness, children with behavioural problems who, if left to their own devices could be dangerous both to themselves and other children. Without their T.As these children would be lost. As it is, their parents have to fight for help. How could they access education without the care and 1 to 1 support of a Teaching Assistant? T.As deliver physiotherapy programmes, Speech and Language interventions, administer medication...

Teaching Assistants are the unsung backbone of the education system. We work for just over minimum wage and we work because we choose to give our best for the children in our care. In my school the T.As are hard working, intelligent (many are Graduates) and very caring. Often it is the T.A who has the time to sit and listen to a child, who picks up on the underlying problems a child faces. We are part of a team, with our Teachers, trying to create an environment where children can learn and enjoy learning.

Teachers work incredibly hard already. If we were not there to do the things we do then I really hate to think what would happen to the children who need us. Teachers cannot physically do their own jobs and ours. It's impossible. I despair at the short sightedness of the UK Government and their plans.

If you have a child in school then please celebrate how fortunate they are, not only to have Teachers who work their socks off, but also Teaching Assistants who do their best to support, care and guide. It has been a long time since all we did was wash up paint pots.

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