East London primary school staff to strike over proposed pay cuts

Teaching assistants at Sir William Burrough Primary School in Tower Hamlets will take strike action over a restructure that could see their pay slashed by thousands of pounds.

The workers were balloted by their union, GMB Union, and voted 88 per cent in favour of strike action on a 100 per cent turnout.

The school, which is part of the University Schools Trust, has paused the restructure but declined to scrap it entirely, meaning staff are living with the threat of having their jobs downgraded.

If it went ahead, it would see some support staff moved from grade 5 to grade 3, which could represent a loss of up to £7,500 per year for nursery nurses and up to £2,500 a year for learning support assistants.

Any staff member who opposes the changes will have no choice but to resign, as the Trust has refused to offer redundancy pay.

GMB is also supporting its members in another school in the Trust, St Paul’s Way, which is consulting on a restructure that would affect the jobs and salaries of both teachers and support staff.

Jasmin Deans, GMB Regional Organiser, said:

 “Our members face an ever-present threat of having their roles downgraded and their pay slashed.

“This is despite there being no demonstrable changes to their roles or workload to justify any kind of cut in pay.

“They cannot accept this unfairness and uncertainty, which is why they have voted to strike.

“GMB will support them at every step of this dispute and will not sit by while University Schools Trust seeks to pick the pockets of hard working, low paid staff who are vital to the running of this school.”