Running time: 6 mins 56 secs
Enormous picket lines of striking support staff at schools across the Cathedral Schools multi-academy Trust in Bristol showed the depth of anger against Trust bosses stealing five months of pay rise year on year since 2017 – and after four days of strike action and a further 10 days of strikes just shared with the employer, ACAS talks produced a financial settlement that, although the details must remain confidential at this stage, was enough that 100% members agreed to accept the settlement in under 2 hours.
The Trust had been only implementing annual pay rises from September instead of April, which has resulted in support staff losing thousands of pounds. If you are on £20,000 a year, this amounts to around £2,000 over the past five years – a huge hit for workers who barely earn minimum wage despite being highly skilled.
Support staff are the foundations of education; without them, schools simply cannot function, as shown by this impressive strike shutting down 12 schools in the trust. Loads of teachers refused to cross picket lines, and there was huge support from parents and pupils too.
The trust had already been forced to pay back the money they stole from this year – and now this settlement shows that strike action works.
Significantly, the success of this dispute was directly down to both unions, NEU and UNISON, working together and striking together – something that hasn’t happened very often before in the education sector. But now these workers have provided a template – and inspiration – to fight for real gains in a system that is crumbling from lack of funds, staff and resources.
And to keep the momentum going: please donate to the strike fund to make sure the workers are compensated for these four days of strike action and to help with strikes in the future. Here’s the bank details: Name: NEU Bristol District Sort code: 60-83-01 Account number: 20406969 Reference: CST Hardship Fund
