Commenting after the passing of motion 21 at NEU Annual Conference, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Endemic low pay, the widespread use of term-time only (TTO) contracts, and workload have all combined to drive thousands of skilled and dedicated support staff workers from our schools. With school funding now stretched to the absolute limits, pay increases need to be funded from Government to ensure the full quota of support staff needed is in place.
“The NEU will seek to work with the other support staff unions – Unison, GMB and Unite – to address the key issues, as well to demand a seat on the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB), which Labour has pledged to reintroduce if elected. The abolition of the SSSNB was one of the first acts of the Coalition Government in 2010. NEU believes that an SSSNB can play a valuable role as the forum for the united voice of support workers.
“Enough is enough. Support staff play a vital role in the education of our children and young people. Classroom teachers rely on and need their input. Yet pay and working conditions remain so unattractive. Many support staff must take on second jobs to survive and for those on TTO contracts only the lack of already poor pay during the school holidays makes it impossible to countenance staying in the job.
“The NEU will continue its campaigning and organising work to ensure that support staff are given the recognition and pay for the work that they do.”