County Durham Schools to close as teaching assistants strike
More than 100 primary schools across County Durham will be affected for the next two days as teaching assistants strike for a second time over cuts to their pay.
More than 100 primary schools across County Durham will be affected for the next two days as teaching assistants strike for a second time over cuts to their pay.
School support staff plan to protest at dozens of picket lines across the county over the two days. This will mean the closure of some schools completely, says their union UNISON.
From this Friday until the end of term, teaching assistants will only work their regular hours. So instead of working through their breaks, coming in early, staying late and taking work home, they will start and end their working day as set out in their contracts.
This action short of strike action follows a ballot over Durham County Council's decision to move teaching assistants onto term-time contracts. This move will see school support staff lose up to 23% of their wages.
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said:
“Durham council can no longer have any doubts about how seriously teaching assistants are taking this dispute.
“Council plans to slash the salaries of its already low-paid staff are appalling and heartless.
“Surely now councillors will see sense and get round the negotiating table with a proper offer. Teaching assistants hate the idea of inconveniencing parents but this is now the only way for school support workers to win the pay they deserve.”
UNISON northern regional secretary Clare Williams said:
“Teaching assistants are dedicated to their jobs and the children they teach.
“But they shouldn’t have to survive on wages so low they don’t know how they will pay their bills once their wages have been cut. Councillors should settle this dispute so that teaching assistants can go back to the jobs they love.”
Meanwhile, headteachers say over 91 per cent of County Durham schools will remain open during industrial action by teaching assistants.
Cllr Jane Brown, Durham council’s cabinet member for corporate services, said she was very disappointed that despite ongoing discussions with unions further disruption was possible, however the council has been told just 23 of the county’s 269 schools will close on Wednesday and Thursday - 20 fewer than last time.
“We are really, really disappointed,” Cllr Brown said. “This is obviously going to have some impact on our schools but also we’re even more disappointed that having been in further discussions with Unison only last week they’re going ahead with industrial action.
“We’re hoping that we can keep the impact to a minimum. Last time the unions decided to take industrial action 80 per cent of our schools remained open and the majority of our teaching assistants did report for work. We’re really hoping that will be the case this time and the disruption caused by the strike will be kept to a minimum.”
Cllr Brown said: “I think there is a lot of misinformation around and it is important to be clear about the facts.
“This is not a cost cutting exercise as some have claimed, as any savings remain in school budgets and don’t come back to the council. It is not as simple as regrading all teaching assistants so they don’t lose out - that would create a further equal pay risk. This is all about removing the substantial equal pay risk that we have been legally advised we have to deal with. The risk is very real and we have received claims using the teaching assistants as a comparator for equal pay purposes.
“We appreciate this is not a position that the council or our valued teaching assistants want to find themselves in but we have no choice but to address this issue.
“We are aware that this disruption may have caused families some inconvenience and both the schools and the council apologise for this and thank the public for their understanding.
“The education and wellbeing of all our pupils remains our priority and we are very grateful for the patience and support of parents during this difficult time.”