Education unions warn academy trusts over cuts

The UK’s largest academy chain faces a potential dispute with seven education unions [1] over job cuts, low wages and outsourcing. The unions have now registered a failure to agree with London-based Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) which means the trust now has to halt all cuts and outsourcing to allow for last ditch talks at conciliation service ACAS. Unions have been forced into this step by AET’s refusal to engage in meaningful negotiation over a variety of issues. These include AET’s unwillingness to provide essential financial information on its plans for its schools, outsourcing of school services, holding down of teacher pay progression, failure to tackle workload and cuts to frontline school support staff. Workload across the trust has increased to such an extent staff are becoming ill – despite repeated warnings, say the unions. AET is also refusing to release details of the recent financial support it received from the government, including the full conditions it signed up to in return for this money. Questions are now even being asked in Parliament about this funding deal and the lack of transparency around it. Schools across the UK are affected – including those in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Middlesbrough, Barnsley, Gloucester and Milton Keynes. [See note 2 for list of affected schools] In 2017 AET cut dozens of jobs in a bid to slash £1.4 million from its schools’ estates budget –which unions say put children’s safety at risk....
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: News Press release academies academy schools education Jon Richards Source Type: news