Members of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union are starting the first of eleven planned days of strike action tomorrow (Tuesday) at William Hulme’s Grammar School in Manchester over the decision by employers to select the NASUWT’s workplace rep for redundancy and other adverse management practices.
NASUWT maintains that the employer has failed to provide a legitimate reason or business case for redundancy and that there is evidence of discrimination on the grounds of trade union membership.
The dismissal of a trade union rep is the latest in a pattern of adverse management practices at the school which are impacting the wider staff. These include the way in which staff absence is being managed and the use of support plans.
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
“We have put forward what we believe are a number of reasonable options to the employer which would enable the compulsory redundancy to be avoided, but the employer has refused to seriously consider any of them.
“We have been asking for the notice of redundancy to be withdrawn, but the intransigence of the employer on this matter, along with the continued failure to address the way in which staff are being managed, has left our members with no other option than to move to strike action.
“We will not accept the victimisation of any member for exercising their legitimate right to represent their colleagues through their trade union.”
Rachel Knight, NASUWT National Executive Member for Greater Manchester, said:
“We believe that the redundancy has only arisen as a result of the mismanagement of staffing by the employer – we dispute that there is even a need to cut staff numbers as the school is oversubscribed and workload has not diminished in any way.
“Despite a vacancy opening up in another department, the school is refusing to explore the retraining and redeployment of the affected member of staff, despite the cost of retraining being far less than the cost of the redundancy or the cost of recruiting an extra member of staff.
“Furthermore, the employer has failed to offer staff at the school alternative options such as voluntary redundancy, job shares and reduced hours in order to avoid a redundancy.
“These are not the actions of an employer which respects its staff or wants to provide the best continuity of education for its pupils.”
