Received from: GMB
Congress notes that without the many years of work from recognised NJC trade unions (GMB, UNISON and Unite), school support staff would not have their own, non-teacher union organisation and representation. There would also be no negotiating body specifically for School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB), first conceived in the last Labour government, now being reestablished.
School support staff are facing large scale issues, including:
i. forced academisation in England, essentially privatising the remainder of state schools, and our members’ terms and conditions
ii. the growing use of AI with limited consultation, which risks devaluing their professionalism and cutting out the essential relational element in a child’s education
iii. historical pay injustice, which GMB is fighting through numerous Equal Value claims across the country.
The SSSNB should be the forum in which these issues are resolved. However, currently, there will be no job evaluation or job profiles worked on in this parliamentary term, forcing our members to wait at least three years for this work to be started, with the risk that it never will.
Academisation, unmanaged AI rollout, and limited or no recourse on equal value claims will leave school support staff worse off and failed by this government.
Congress calls on the TUC to:
a. pressure the government to make the SSSNB the body where school support staff can get the pay, conditions, and respect they deserve
b. support GMB, Unite and UNISON as the recognised school support staff unions in their negotiations with the Department for Education.
GMB
AMENDMENT
Add action points:
c. pressure the new Education Secretary to:
– deliver the SSSNB’s original ambition
– enable the SSSNB to immediately start work on a national approach to job evaluation and role profiles
d. campaign alongside NJC unions for sufficient central funding for meaningful school support staff pay rises.
UNISON