UNISON, together with the GMB and Unite unions, has won a second judgment against the National Education Union (NEU) after repeated breaches of a TUC agreement covering which unions can recruit school support staff members.
UNISON, the GMB and Unite are the three unions who are recognised for school support staff members – school staff like cleaners, IT technicians, teaching assistants and catering staff.
The new judgement reaffirmed that the school support staff unions (UNISON, the GMB and Unite) have exclusive bargaining rights for school support staff, and that the NEU will not be part of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB). It also explicitly stated that the NEU should not actively organise or recruit school support staff.
Earlier this year, the three recognised school support staff unions submitted a second formal complaint to the TUC about the NEU’s continued organising activities and recruitment of school support staff, and their publicly stated intention to continue with these activities.
UNISON’s head of education Mike Short said: “Our three unions took this formal step reluctantly, but it was very clear to us that the NEU were repeatedly and deliberately breaching the 2017 agreement signed by the four unions and going against a previous decision made by a TUC Disputes Committee in 2023.
“The TUC had made it clear that there are only three recognised school support staff unions, and NEU should not organise that group of workers.”
Despite having just signed an agreement which committed them to abiding by the previous TUC decision and working constructively with the support staff unions, the NEU, at their conference in April, made it very clear that they had no intention of sticking to what they had agreed and would continue to organise school support staff.
Now the TUC has issued its new judgement and once again UNISON’s complaint has been upheld. As a result, the NEU have been formally censured by the TUC and instructed to place a detailed report on this verdict – with specified wording – on their website. “We call on the NEU to abide by this instruction immediately,” says Mike.
The TUC has also convened a summit of all four unions for late November, to agree final principles for joint working in the future. The three school support staff unions welcome this initiative, and we look forward to discussing how we can ensure there is no repeat of the NEU’s breaches of agreements reached in good faith.
“The three unions would have preferred not to have had to bring a second formal complaint in three years,” adds Mike. “We are pleased that our complaint has been upheld and note the formal censure of the NEU.
“Our hope now is that this puts an end to the matter, and all unions can return to their previous good relationships and get back to joint campaigns on issues affecting all of our members across the education sector.”
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The article UNISON’s status as leading school support staff union confirmed again first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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