You may remember from previous emails that UNISON and the other council unions (GMB and Unite) submitted a pay claim a few months ago. The claim was as follows:
• An increase of at least £3,000 or 10% (whichever is greater) across all NJC spinal column points
• A minimum pay rate of £15 an hour for the NJC pay spine
• A two hour reduction in the working week
• An increase of one day annual leave
• The ability of all school support staff to take a day of paid leave during term time
The employers have finally come back with an offer – that’s nowhere near what we need! They have offered 3.3% increase at all pay points and rejected all the other parts of the claim.
The NJC committee, which is the body that negotiates our pay, met recently and has rejected the offer. The committee also agreed to go directly to an official industrial action ballot (ie not a consultative ballot), and is going to be from 9 July to 6 August. What we don’t know yet who will be balloted as the NJC committee is also looking into targeted balloting.
However, given that we have been close to the threshold in previous industrial action ballots, it’s highly likely that we will be one of the branches that is balloted! We don’t need to wait to get started though – there are a couple of steps we can take now. They are:
• Update your details – you can do this either here: My UNISON – UNISON National or by emailing unison@camden.gov.uk saying you’d like to update your details and we’ll send you a form to complete and return, or by using the form/replying to the emails that have been sent to you from Kamarie in the Camden UNISON office recently
• Recruit a workmate to UNISON – we have membership forms stored in 5PS, or you can share the link here: Join UNISON and get essential cover – the more members we have, the stronger we are.
Let’s get ready to fight for a decent pay rise!
Schools Dispute Update
Primrose Hill school vote to strike! Teaching Assistants in UNISON at Primrose Hill school got their ballot result a few days ago – and the turnout was 67%, with 100% voting YES to strike. As with Richard Cobden school, this is about regrading the Teaching Assistants and Early Years Practitioners. We had a great UNISON meeting last night with all the members discussing next steps and the request for strike action has been submitted to the union – we’ll know in a few days what the dates are, so watch this space!
And our amazing members at Richard Cobden school are in the middle of being re-balloted to continue their action. The ballot closes on 24 April, and we’ll know the outcome very soon after and be discussing next steps with our members there too.
It’s brilliant to see our branch members standing up and fighting for decent pay and the respect that they deserve – they are essential workers in schools and the support they give to children isn’t recognised properly in the pay that they get.
They are nearly all women workers, and amongst the lowest paid in the council. Richard Cobden members have taken up to 18 days strike, and although they receive strike pay, they have lost money. When they win, they will end up with more money, but until then, they face hardship. As a branch, we have agreed to make hardship payments because of the amount of action that they have taken, but if any branch members would also like to make a solidarity donation to the strike fund, that would be great! You can do so via a transfer, and our account details are:
Account name: UNISON Camden
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account No: 20040736
Ref: School strikes
And as soon as we have more strike days confirmed, it would be great to have solidarity visits too!