Category: Uncategorized

Executive NEUs May 10th

The JGSs reported:

Covid

· The Union’s stance on wider opening of schools from March vindicated given decline in cases (ONS figures – lowest ever in Primary and lowest since September 2020 in Secondary)

· Weekly reporting with Stephen Hawking Foundation; able to email members as they fall into vaccination cohorts;

Conference

· Huge success and very ably chaired by the President; our commissioned voting/democracy app has been offered to TUC affiliates and adopted by others including CWU at recent digi-conference;

· The Executive noted a first analysis of equality data for delegates/reps and officers; increasing rep diversity; less so at officer level who are 2.5 times likelier to be male than female; geographical variance with delegate diversity; in London and South East, 62% with more than half woman delegates; figure drops below 50% in NW and Wales;

· The 200+ instructions agreed by Conference circulated to Executive for preliminary consideration; necessary to agree strategic plan and focus in relation to implementation;

· Clear steer from prioritisation exercise that workload remains the major concern for activist base reinforced by pre-Conference survey findings (released during Conference) with 61% responding that their wellbeing had worsened over the past year as a result of accountability measures

Extensive multi-year campaign

· The zoom calls to launch the 1265/195 initiative had attracted thousands of members; gives reps an important start point for bargaining; ASCL and NAHT supportive;

· Tackling workload not easy – but key to our relevance to members;

· Launching a multi-year campaign – provisionally ‘Bargaining for Professionalism’ – building on public support for the vital work of the profession; demanding a voice for the profession; building on the success of the ASOS (NUT legacy) and NI (ATL legacy) workload dispute;

· Clarion call – ‘it doesn’t need to be like this!’; underpinned by OECD comparators – 56% of UK teachers ‘stressed all of the time’ – relative OECD figure is 18%;

· TALLIS survey (partial given withdrawal of some UK countries) demonstrates year on year that teacher professionalism directly linked to workload and accountability

· Support reps in conversations with their members and heads; move towards a demand in the autumn term for accountability measures to count towards directed time;

· Campaign to be underpinned by professionalism, skills, experience, curriculum and pedagogical knowledge of SS, teachers and leaders;

· Loss of teachers to the profession (25% within 10 years – a fifth of whom become support staff to stay in profession)

· Social and economic issues compounded with schools in most deprived areas having less experienced teachers; less likely to be qualified in their subject areas;

Finally, the Executive noted a paper on ‘Sectors and Sections’ for future discussion and amendment.

The Executive noted:

o The subscriptions income report

o The report on outstanding annual returns from local structures indicating a slow improvement from March position

· 13 returns are missing from 2019, compared to 13 reported in February 2021; 16 returns are missing from 2020, compared to 21 reported in February 2021

· That the Chair of GPC, the National Treasurer, AGS Business Services and Head of Finance would meet to review the implementation of the protocol.

o report on regional offices

o agreed in principle to the introduction of shared mailboxes for branch officers first to be subject to a pilot;

o the report on Supporting our Reps with points raised in the discussion at MD and US to inform guidance for reps and local offices.

o Revised guidance now being worked on by the office on Long Covid;

o The code of behaviour on social media and use of the NEU logo was deferred to the next meeting;

The Executive agreed:

· Improvements to the NEU Staff Pension Scheme based on feedback during the consultation process which closed at the end of April;

· The appointment of First Actuarial to provide administration, actuarial and investment consultancy service to the Trustees of the NEU Pension Scheme;

· Transfer of contingent asset (HH) to NEU pension scheme overseen by Union Trustees;

· Revisions to the Local Financial Regulations in relation to the payment of honoraria in line with the Conference decision (number/level); and advice to be circulated to districts which have already held their AGMs to be permitted to revisit any decisions on honoraria

· Agreed to re-run the Executive elections in D3, 5 and 6 on the basis that the guarded women candidates were not included on the voting papers against the decision of the JEC Steering Group made in September 2018 that they would appear with “elected according to Rule” marked against them.

· In future Executive elections those elected under the guarding arrangements are included on the ballot paper.

· To accept the bid from Ashly Grove Reality Ltd of £10,777,000 for the sale of 7 Northumberland Street based on proposed terms.

· A proposed rule change to introduce payment of MAT or LA wide sustentation but at a lower level; the Rule Change to go forward to Annual Conference 2022;

· awarding the contract to provide member rewards to Parliament Hill.

· Funding and affiliations – affiliation to the Zero Covid campaign; a donation of £2,000 to the Match Girls’ campaign; donation of £1850 to the Mark Ashton Memorial Plaque; donation of £2,000 to PCS strike fund for DVLA workers; affiliation to the Bevan Foundation; a donation of £10,000 to the People’s Assembly for planned demonstration on 26 June and reviewed the additional information provided and confirmed the donation of £50,000 to SUTR.

Executive NEUs March 25th

Joint General Secretaries’ Report

Wider return of schools/colleges

· Following the wider re-opening of schools, general feedback from members is that they were pleased to be back in school/college; holding out for the end of term;

· Swift return to pre-C19 concerns – workload, assessment and pupil behaviour;

· Monitoring all data; focussing on case numbers;

· Focus on our Education Recovery Plan with the remote education hub being repositioned as the ERP hub (safety in schools/colleges; building better; giving all pupils the best start in life);

· Kevan Collin’s (now remodelled as Education Recovery rather than Catch-up ‘Czar’) views clear – investment in CPD for education staff; money for interventions/tutoring should go directly to schools which are best placed to spend effectively; 1265 hours a ‘red line’; additional hours/activities wholly voluntary;

· Secondary members facing serious challenges re GCSE/A level assessment; disgraceful that DFE advice/guidance so late; members required to undertake serious professional work which requires additional time; Union producing animation on how grades to be awarded – criteria referencing to replace exams;

· Our members vulnerable to accusations of unfairness; Mary’s latest TES blog sets out arguments brilliantly;

Post Covid Campaign focus

· Consider Conference resolutions for democratic authority for campaign focus;

· Looking at national push on workload/professional hours/agency underpinned by guidance on working hours – similar to that produced for ASOS action (NUT/ATL legacy campaigns);

· Support for reps, including increase of 12% new reps (40% of all schools/colleges have a rep; 57% of members in primary now in school with rep; 75% figure for secondary members)

Demographics – activists/Executive

· Executive noted paper; for further discussion as part of the requirement by Rule to review the Executive;

· In line with OSG recommendation for an Executive Awayday, will put together plans for next OSG and update Executive on proposals. Dates for the Awayday would be circulated with plenty of advance notice and scheduled at times to ensure maximum participation given the many demands on Executive members’ time.

Sexism and Racism

· Proud to sign the TUC statement calling for urgent action on violence against women;

· Stats chilling and consistent over time – a woman is killed every 2/3 days at the hands of a man;

· The Union’s ‘It’s just about everywhere’ published in 2019 and associated toolkit – great resources for district discussions; key issue for our members;

· Guardian report on pupil exclusions (5x higher for black/Caribbean pupils; 9x higher for GRT; 4x for dual heritage); need to support our members to prevent exclusions and improve AP;

· Exciting project jointly with University of Newcastle in collaboration with Leeds Beckett on ITT and professional skills around anti-racism

The Executive agreed resolutions on TPS in the independent sector; Support Staff Redundancies; NHS staff; the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and Pearson Textbooks. All to be taken forward by relevant SCs.

The Executive agreed the following recommendations via the five Strategy Committees:

o Winning At Work Project bargaining strategy – proposals for the Summer term focusing on directed time calendars and working time.

o Gender Pay Issues – to develop further campaign work on gender pay issues

o School Teachers – noted the position regarding the pay review bodies in England and Wales and the TUC campaign on public sector pay

o 6F college reps to be consulted on the strategy for the 2021 negotiations with SFCA.

o Financial report – noted variance to 28 February 2021 and Annual returns from local structures (slow improvement in the number of returns since last reported to GPC: 13 returns are missing from 2019, compared to 15 reported in February 2021; 21 returns are missing from 2020, compared to 26 reported in February 2021 – detailed report to the next meeting on proposed actions.

o Help a Child to Learn campaign – raised donations of £249k. Of this, £139k has come from NEU districts and regions, with the rest coming directly from the public and a donation from Unity Bank. 1,193 schools have accepted vouchers to the value of £1.194 million. So far, £144k worth of supplies have been ordered from Viking and £3k from Hope Education.

o Membership subscriptions with effect from 1 September 2021 – 1% increase to the union’s national in-service subscription

o Staff Pension Scheme project report – changes to the proposed benefit structure of the NEU Pension Scheme based on feedback received during the current consultation exercise;

o The Hamilton House refurbishment has been completed against the agreed revised timelines and within the budget set by Executive.

o to extend the lease to the Y&H region office while the search continues for a more suitable property

o noted the HR KSIs; the NEU gender pay gap and NEU ethnicity pay gap and action plans.

o Long Service Certificate – to signed by the Joint General Secretaries and the President and administered by the GS office, as officers stand down or retire.

o National Elections – commitment to reviewing current election processes, after the completion of this round of elections, and to producing guidance for members.

o Conference Cymru – agreed revision of the criteria for Conference Cymru to include an initial stage of National Officer scrutiny, in line with arrangements for annual conference.

o Donations – Trade Unions for Energy Democracy – £1000 Stand up to Racism – £50,000 with a request that the NEU is provided with a breakdown of how this donation will be used on planned activity.

o Social Media Working Group to produce a draft protocol for Unofficial Member Networks and Self-Organised groups and the use of the NEU logo; to be presented to a joint session of the Union Strength and Member Defence Strategy Committee

o noted the activity grants approved

o Debra Beale was elected unopposed to serve on the Wales Committee.

o Noted initial feedback from branch secretaries on Shared Mail Box proposals;

o the development of a model policy on sexual harassment in schools, further campaigning and training and working with the Womens Organising Forum on these issues.

o The Executive agreed the paper on Professional Unity for communication to all members

o Challenging Sexism and Violence Against Women and Girls noted the outline of the Union’s work has done in response to recent events that have exposed familiar patterns of men’s violence and everyday sexism and sexual harassment affecting women and girls’ lives.

The Executive welcomed Susan Kent to the Executive (following the by-election in D11) and noted the resignation from the Executive of Neil Foden and Corinne Lamoureux.

Executive NEUs February 20th

Wider re-opening of Schools

The Wales Executive members reported on the opening of schools in Wales (under matters arising from the previous meeting); all foundation stage pupils returning from 22 February; the extension of numbers shielding in England not followed in Wales; foundation stage members feel unsupported and that the Union’s strategy is ‘England-centric’.  The Member for NI reported that years P1, 2 &3 going back on 8 March; phased return for other groups. The Executive noted a statement from PRC on the wider reopening of schools in England.  All deferred to the Special Executive scheduled for 24 February.

The Executive agreed the following recommendations from strategy committees:

  • The text of an emergency motion to TUC Women’s Conference on the subject of Solidarity with the Uyghur Women. 
  • that the Fred and Anne Jarvis award be given to Marcus Rashford. He was the only nominee for the award this year, with 9 nominations received. 
  • a national coordinated NEU response to increasing proposals for academisation of Catholic schools, including approaching NAHT and other organisations on joint work nationally and locally, making representations in every diocese and seeking to mobilise members and parents.
  • The provision of materials for Supply members in Wales to make representation during the Welsh Election campaigns.
  • To submit Conference Amendments on Workload, Support StaffandAutonomy for Districts
  • Membership report – noted 35k more in-service members from last year; detailed paper on student recruitment strategy; impact of ‘HATL’ campaign on resignations minimal (6 citing this as reason); more work on equality characteristics required prompted by census categories.
  • the final financial statements for the 12 month-period to 31 August 2020 and noted that the AR21 returns have been submitted to the GB and NI Certification Officers.
  • the Variance report to 31 December 2020
  • That the Union participates in the Trade Union apprenticeship scheme, starting with an intake in April 2021 of three apprentices.
  • changes to the make-up of recruitment and selection panels for the appointed DGS, Region/Wales secretaries and equality posts and that an agreed process is set out in the policy about how Officers and Executive members are selected for panels.
  • that the Litigation Unit adopt a new structure giving more resource at band 3 and less resource at band 5.
  • that the savings limit for the National Hardship Fund be revised downwards to £3000 and confirm that NQ members will need a 3-month membership threshold (as well as activated DD) to be eligible.
  • A revision to the Interim Standing Orders (additional 5.5) to permit amendments to proposals made under the JGS report
  • A donation of £2000 as sponsorship for an episode of the Mark Thomas Key Words podcast, which will focus on keyworkers including NEU members through the pandemic.
  • In Executive elections, the rules are silent on how many nominations can be made by individual members. Districts can nominate candidates up to the number of seats in their electoral district. GPC recommends the same approach is taken for nominations by individual members.
  • the introduction of role descriptions for members of National Councils (NC) and Organising Forums (OF)
  • Guidance on District and Branch decision-making on digital platforms during the Coronavirus pandemic:
  • that it will be reviewed regularly by Executive in light of government regulations; and
  • that paragraph 2 of the guidance as set out in US 9/200221 be deleted;
  • The issue of voting mechanisms and good practice guidelines being considered by LDBS group.
  • Annual section and sector conferences:
  • Annual section and sector conferences to be held virtually in autumn 2021 and we plan for a return to physical conferences in 2022
  • To undertake a full evaluation of the role of online events and conferences, what this means for member and activist engagement and bring back a report to this Committee.
  • To undertake a review of the timing and funding of NEU Conferences from 2022, with reference to the decisions taken by Union Strength committee in February 2020 about NEU Conferences.
  • To decline a request from Essex Branch that an exception be made to the honoraria regulations for Essex Branch post holders, who have also been awarded honoraria for different postsin their local district, to receive honoraria for their branch role.
  • The local district council structure in Northamptonshire is being restructured from eight to two unitary authorities.   It was agreed that 4 new branches be created, a state education branch and independent branch in North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire.
  • the amendments for TUC Young Workers’ Conference to two motions, ‘Young Teachers and Mental Health’, NASUWT and ‘Better Financial Support for Young Workers in the Arts’, Prospect.
  • an exercise to consider providing all state education branches with a shared mailbox at no charge, to involve consultation with branches

The Executive agreed the text of motions on ‘No Confidence in Gavin Williamson’ and ‘Solidarity and Support for workplace representatives’ as amended (after agreeing to accept late submission).  A rescinding motion (to reverse the decisions in January in respect of honoraria payments) was lost.  The vote was recorded and will appear in the minutes of the meeting.

Professional Unity Committee – The Executive agreed to refer back the text, timing and audience for the pamphlet for further consideration; to PRC in the first instance.

Reports from the NDC and PCC were noted.

Executive NEUs February 2nd

Special Executive – Tuesday, 2 February 2021

The audience for PM’s announcement that schools should commence opening from 8 March on 27 January was not the general public but backbench critics of the lockdown (the Covid Recovery Group et al) and designed to take attention away from the chilling total of 100,000 covid deaths.  The Government will review data on 15 February and make further announcement on 22 February. One of the key datasets the Government is looking at is hospitalisation rates (as confirmed to staff member at DfE meeting).

In Wales, schools will open to foundation stage on 22 February (support planned for reps and branches) and in Scotland there are plans for younger pupils and those taking vocational subjects to return by the end of the month.

JGSs reported on the Union’s proposed response:

  • Focus should be data – not date
  • Effect of vaccination roll-out on transmission rates key; some promising early data from Israel
  • We focus on community transmission and schools being ‘vectors of infection’
  • Cases not falling; latest figures from REACT (Imperial study) gives R at 0.98
  • Risk that ICUs overwhelmed not fundamentally altered by the initial vaccination cohorts – critical hospital patients in 45+ age group
  • Positive that Gavin Williamson’s proposal that schools commenced opening immediately after half-term rejected by PM
  • The Union’s Education Recovery Plan launched and widely well-received including by the all-party MP event earlier in the week
  • JGS meetings with Gavin Williamson now replaced with meetings with the permanent secretary; more profitable dialogue; initial discussions last week on how phasing might work – youngest and practical/vocational FE/HE students to be prioritised; followed by exam years; then early years and Alt Provision; then remainder of Y10-13; all subject to discussion and potential revision
  • Calm and measured response to the call from Labour Party and other quarters that school staff be prioritised for the vaccine; criticism from MoS and other media on our refusal to back the call; priority for vaccination at the expense of which cohorts?
  • The Support Staff Executive member reported that the zoom meeting of SS members had been well attended and extremely helpful

Member response

  • We need to assess our members’ views on wider school re-opening
  • No comparable member response to Gavin Williamson’s announcement in December when overwhelming member opposition on social media/other platforms
  • Significantly different landscape now than in December – SAGE minutes of 22 December advising on the impact of the new variant on likely infection spikes if schools remained open;
  • We cannot assume that our members want the current situation to continue – not least because far more pupils in school under this lockdown so members delivering both online and live lessons
  • Balanced and helpful OFSTED report on how the profession has responded to the challenges of blended learning – key findings:
  • 45% of teachers saying workload had greatly increased and 41% that it had increased somewhat – 86% facing increased workload
  • 49% responded that difficulties in aligning the curriculum with remote learning
  • Remote learning more successful in workplaces where these platforms were well-established prior to the pandemic;
  • 35% of teachers do not feel confident using virtual platforms

Science and data

  • ONS data on deaths of education staff for the period March to December 2020 – 176 deaths of 1.3m education staff; every death a tragedy and this figure would undoubtedly be higher but for the Union’s actions;
  • We cannot make the simple claim that the death rates higher when schools are open and indeed more teachers died from non-covid conditions over the period;
  • Data do support the claim that infection rates are higher amongst education staff than the general population, although fewer deaths due to demographic – younger, more women and relatively prosperous
  • Document circulated to Executive (prepared by Andrew Baisley) with analysis of vaccination rates; based on 2.5m per week; by 1 March all 65+ and extremely clinically vulnerable vaccinated and by 9 March all those over 60 years; this is only the first jab and two week time-lag for immune response maximised; has to be a factor in our thinking for both member and community safety;

Summary of Union’s strategy – three elements:

  • Our Education Recovery Plan – focus on safety, education and equality
  • The pandemic has exposed the fragility of our education system
  • Continue to base our response on the science
  • Our position on vaccinations is robust – the JCVI has set out the priority cohorts based on age and vulnerability
  • Even when vaccination rolled out to all adults, education staff will still need to self-isolate if in close contact with infection;
  • Work with reps and branches to prepare for school return
  • The remote Education Hub – garnering huge member support (20k visitors to the site on its first weekend going live)

Help a Child to Learn

The JGSs acknowledged that there had been some mistakes in the early stages of the campaign including the adoption of the term ‘a big announcement’ to trial the launch; insensitive wording in some messaging landing particularly badly with our supply members; no clear explanation of the money being redirected from savings made in last year with activities curtailed; and the misspelling of ‘stationery’ in one communication. 

Nomination request to Welsh districts

I am standing for re-election to the National Executive Committee to represent Wales. Below is my nomination request sent to all NEU districts yesterday. If you are a member in Wales, please ask your district to hold a nomination meeting and consider nominating me again. It has been my utter privilege to represent Wales and there is still so much work which I am ready and very willing to do.

Dear NEU Secretaries, Thank you for the support you have given me over the last 2 ½ years and I do hope you will again consider nominating me as one of your candidates for Wales. I hope you will agree that I have worked very hard as one of the three executive members for Wales over the last 2 ½ years and as well as representing Wales at every NEC meeting I have endeavoured to be very inclusive in ensuring that all secretaries and members have been kept updated with news from the executive. I have been instrumental in improving communications between executive members and the NEU Cymru office by requesting and attending weekly updates with our Wales secretary and feeding back to secretaries and reps where appropriate. On becoming an executive member, the strategy committee I chose to sit on is Union Strength whose remit is to provide oversight of the recruitment and retention, organising, union learning strategies and work to build district, branch and sector organisation. I am also the elected vice chair of the Wales committee whose remit is to consider the implementation of the Union’s strategic plan in the area of Wales and provide advice on relevant policy issues in Wales to the five Strategy committees.I have tried hard to improve communications and support between secretaries and reps, setting up a new what’s app group for secretaries and holding regular catch up sessions for us all to compare case work and feel less isolated especially during the coronavirus crisis. Recently. I organised and held a training session with one of the Wales organisers to ensure that all secretaries are able to access the membership system, download up to date reports and create a bulk email to ensure all members are reached. I try hard to attend district meetings that I am invited to and I am always happy to give an executive update. I regularly update my blog after executive meetings and with all the campaigns and events I have been involved with – here is my blog in case you haven’t had the time or opportunity to look at it before now and I ask that you share this with members too https://walesnationalexecutive.news.blog/I have been at the forefront of campaigning in Wales during my time so far on the executive, I was present at the launch of our school cuts Cymru campaign as well as participating in both the Senedd and Westminster briefings speaking to MS’s and MPs about the funding situation for Education in Wales. I also did a press release and a radio interview about school funding in the Vale of Glamorgan which is still funded at the lowest rate in Wales. I have been involved with giving evidence to the IWPRB when taking decisions on teacher pay increases annually. I have represented NEU Cymru in many activist meetings such as with Peoples assembly and People before profit, especially during the last year in discussions about coronavirus and the effects on Education. I organised a well-attended super Saturday event in the Vale of Glamorgan during the general election period in December 2019 and I have assisted secretaries and members in disputes with their school or local authority on restructures and/or redundancies, attending to support members on picket lines and in meetings or demos whenever I am able to.During the coronavirus crisis I have been very involved with health and safety issues, setting up a health and safety reps group for Wales and concentrating on recruiting new health and safety reps both in my district and across Wales. I have also attended many national health and safety forums to ensure that I am as up to date as possible at this crucial time.I believe that we need to work collaboratively both with NEU colleagues and with colleagues from other Educational unions both within our own districts, across Wales and also across England as there is a wealth of knowledge to be shared. I consider myself extremely lucky to have shared platforms with amazing activists from trade unions such as Mark Serwotka (general secretary of PCS union), Shavannah Taj (general secretary of Wales TUC) and other activists such as Laura Pidcock (past Labour MP) over the last few years. I believe that in order to raise the profile of Welsh issues across the whole union, executive members must attend national events as well as Welsh events, such as District Secretaries Briefings and National Conferences and I have always committed myself to that. I have attended and spoken at many conferences such as conference Cymru, National NEU conference, TUC conference, Wales TUC, Women of the Isles, Women’s conference and World congress to name but a few. Whether I am speaking locally, nationally or internationally, I always seek to represent Wales to the best of my ability.During my time on the executive I have expanded my international solidarity work by taking part in a second delegation to Palestine and organising and taking part in a Wales NEU trip to Calais to volunteer in the Care4Calais warehouse for a weekend. I have also been part of an IS committee that organised a successful online event about the work Care4Calais does and I was the regional contact for the music for Cuba campaign during when we collected many instruments across Wales which were sent to Cuba during our 2019 National conference in Liverpool. I was lucky enough to attend the world congress in Bangkok and to liaise with international trade unionists, we all fight the same fights whatever country we live in and we have much to learn from each other.I am a practicing teacher with eighteen years classroom experience in Secondary Education in Wales. This allows me to empathise with members as I have and do face many of the same issues that our members face on a daily basis. In my role as district secretary, I have dealt with a wide range of issues including representing members at meetings about absence, grievance and whistleblowing allegations as well as negotiating for their rights in schools where redundancies are being threatened. I have gained a breadth of knowledge and I have taken that knowledge and enthusiasm into my role on the executive where I have done much work to improve things within the way our union operates in Wales. I consider myself to be a very strong trade unionist in the truest sense of the word which means “maintaining or improving the conditions of their members’ employment” and I work tirelessly for the rights of members both in the Vale of Glamorgan and across Wales. I hope to be re-elected to one of the national executive positions and continue to fight for the rights of all Welsh union members. I do hope you will consider supporting my nomination.Kind RegardsMairead Canavan