Brighton teaching assistants

Submitted by Anon on 6 December, 2004 - 9:31

Teaching assistants in Brighton and Hove are still in dispute over the council’s plans to cut the number of weeks a year they are paid.

After three successful days of strike action and two large strike day demos it looks as if GMB and Unison leaders are losing their nerve.

But after the last strike on 10 December both the GMB and Unison seemed to be ready to spread the action across the whole council workforce, and both unions ruled out going to ACAS. They have now called off a strike day planed for 6 January and entered talks in which they offered to accept binding arbitration through ACAS and even to accept the cutting of some paid weeks.

In the talks the council leaders reacted to the backing down of the unions in the time honoured way by rejecting “binding arbitration”, Ken Bodfish, the New Labour council leader, told the local paper: “We had always said we would be willing to bring in Acas. But whatever you call those discussions, everyone needs to be clear — we cannot write a blank cheque for schools to pay their teaching assistants.” Or, in other words, we ain’t giving an inch.

So why did the unions call off the action? Why even talk about accepting anything less than 52 paid weeks? The fact that the national employer’s organisation was overseeing the talks speaks volumes as to how important this battle is. Any cut in the number of weeks paid will be a precedent for councils across the country.

Unison’s web site says: “The dispute has been caused by the employers’ intention of funding a regrading exercise by introducing unpaid weeks — a form of ‘term-time’ only pay. Such is the strength of feeling against the council’s treatment that membership among teaching assistants has risen from 273 to more than 600.”

This support must not be squandered. Teaching assistants in Brighton and Hove need to take control of their own dispute (up to this point it has been directed by the two local union offices) they also need to learn from the recent talks that giving ground in this dispute will win them nothing but contempt from the Council bosses. In this landmark dispute both Unison and the GMB should be looking at national action and talking to the NUT who oppose the workplace agreement which lies at the root of the strike.

By Mark Sandell

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