‘NO TO TWO-TIER Maternity!’ declare striking teachers at the Charter Schools Multi-Academy Trust in Southwark, south-east London, who begin a further three-day strike this morning, having taken a first day of strike action last Friday.
Workers at the Charter Schools Trust are protesting against an unfair maternity pay system, which sees some staff members paid thousands more than their colleagues.
Last Friday’s strike at the six schools – Charter East, Charter North, Charter Bermondsey, Belham, Charles Dickens and Lyndhurst – saw teachers holding placards on their picket lines declaring: ‘No Trust in the Trust! and ‘Exec Pay Rises, Mat Pay Capsizes’.
Last year the Chief Executive of the Charter Schools Trust reportedly received a pay rise of £25,000, increasing her pay to £175,000 per annum.
Ed Harlow, national Vice President of the National Education Union (NEU), condemned the maternity pay system as ‘hugely unfair’, while ‘the cost of fair maternity pay is not that much’.
He warned: ‘In a city which is experiencing a real crisis in pupil numbers, if teachers can’t get fair maternity pay then we’re going to continue seeing this population crisis.
‘It is difficult and expensive to have children in London these days. We’ve got a recruitment and retention crisis, and what we see with our members quite often is that they work in London but then when they want to have children and buy a house, they have to leave.’
NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede said: ‘There has been complete intransigence on the part of the Trust regarding maternity pay. We at least expected the Trust to make some sort of offer for our members to consider, but so far they have not offered a single penny more.’
Condemning the ‘two-tier policy’, Kebede insisted: ‘It is not fair that some staff receive thousands more maternity pay than their colleagues, despite sharing the same employer.’
He pointed to the ‘tens of thousands the Trust has spent on external consultants, marketing and branding, a growing central team and substantial pay rises for its leaders.’
- An overwhelming 94% of staff at Warrington and Vale Royal College have backed strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 75%, announced the University and College Union (UCU) yesterday
The huge vote reflects staff anger at having their pay frozen for almost a year (from Thursday 1st August 2024).
The college has already been in the news recently over plans to sack almost 20 staff.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘It is completely unacceptable for Warrington’s principal to refuse her staff any pay award whatsoever this year. Every other principal in the region clearly views this as beyond the pale, and it risks Warrington & Vale Royal becoming a lone rogue employer.
‘She now needs to look at the incredible 94% yes vote for strike action and begin talking to us immediately if she wants to avoid disruption on campus.’
