Strikes that would have been the largest ever at an academy trust have been put on hold after the National Education Union (NEU) claimed a “landmark victory”.
But the Harris Federation, the trust at the centre of the dispute, has slammed the union for trying to sow “division” and “create conflict” among staff – including by “inappropriately invoking the Windrush scandal”.
The NEU had been balloting staff across 18 Harris schools on proposed walkouts over working conditions, after 90 per cent supported taking strike action in an indicative poll.
But union members voted to end the 15-month dispute following ACAS talks.
The NEU claims the discussions prompted a “significant change” in the trust’s position, but Harris denies this.
NEU claims strike victory
Among other things, the union stated Harris “finally” agreed “Caribbean and other overseas-trained teachers will have autonomy to decide when they are ready to move forward with the assessment-only route” for qualified status (QTS).
Harris has been criticised for teachers it recruited from Jamaica reportedly being paid less than colleagues.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Addressing the exploitation of overseas trained teachers by Harris Federation is a victory.
“This was Harris Federation’s Windrush. This is a record they should be ashamed of, and it is right that it is finally being addressed.”
The union added that “relevant years of teaching experience will now be recognised on appointment”, with the trust committing to “top up salaries for new starters to the equivalent salary point on the main scale”.
It estimated this would boost new starters’ salaries by up to £10,000 on the unqualified teacher pay scale.
And on workload, the NEU said Harris “has increased the minimum amount of protected planning preparation and assessment [PPA] time for teachers to 12 per cent”.
Kebede noted the changes represented “a remarkable achievement” and were “a testimony to the strength in collective action”.
Harris slams ‘chaotic’ and ‘ridiculous’ union
However, a Harris spokesperson accused the union’s leadership of having “tried and failed to create division between colleagues in our academies, despite ploughing time and resources into their campaign”.
Branding them “chaotic”, the trust added: “Even once they reluctantly accepted our offer of conciliation support from ACAS, and, typically, even now they aren’t being transparent to members about why they have called off their strike
“It is both ridiculous and disappointing that Daniel Kebede is still trying to create conflict by inappropriately invoking the Windrush scandal without any factual basis for such a claim. It belittles what happened to the Windrush victims.”
Harris confirmed it has changed part of its policy on overseas-trained teachers. Previously, once heads agreed the employee was ready to pass the QTS assessment, the trust paid the £2,800 fees.
This has been changed so the overseas teachers now decide – but should they fail, they will have to fund it the next time themselves.
‘Our deserving students won’t now have to suffer closures’
The MAT will also implement the new 12 per cent PPA minimum.
But it stressed there was no change on the recognition of these teachers’ experience, as this has “always been assessed and recognised on appointment in the same way as it would be for a UK” worker.
Harris added it has “been topping up salaries for new starters to the equivalent salary point on the main scale since September – this predates the union’s action”.
“Nevertheless, the most important point is that our ambitious and deserving students will not now have to suffer closures and disruption,” the Harris spokesperson continued.
“[This] is especially pertinent just a day before the NEU opens its indicative ballot on national strike action over pay.”
