NEU set to withdraw from the TUC

Daniel Kebede General Secretary NEU

In an unsurprising turn of events, the National Education Union has announced that it will not comply with the 2017 agreement which stops Unions recruiting members from roles which they don't cover. Since the inception of the NEU, an amalgamation of the NUT and ATL union in 2017, the NEU has began an aggressive campaign to recruit support staff.

School Support Staff fall under the National Joint Council, which comprises of Unison, GMB and Unite. Unison has been campaigning for the re-introduction of the School Support Staff Negotiating Board, which last had a very brief appearance in 2010. The SSSNB is set to restart and offer Support Staff a real opportunity for them to negotiate and improve their own terms and conditions.

The NEU held a special conference on Saturday 28 February to decide whether to actively recruit and organise support staff.  With over 1,000 delegates at the conference, the most crucial decision made by the conference was that it passed the main motion, with some amendments, to recruit and organise support staff. 

The conference also refused to back an amendment which would have weakened the motion that put forward not to recruit support staff where Unison, Unite or the GMB had an ‘effective’ rep. The subjectiveness of ‘effective’ was a issue which could not be decided upon.

Another amendment to review the membership dues charged by the union was passed. The conference chair then ruled out an amendment to introduce reduced subs for support staff. It was argued that the NEU did not want to get into a 'price war' with other unions.

An amendment to fight to defend the NEU’s membership of the TUC was also defeated. Despite this defeat, the NEU's 'position' is to try to maintain its TUC membership. Given the 2 enormous fines that have been levied against the NEU in recent years, his position seems untenable.

The decisions of the special conference will obviously lead to more significant conflict with the NJC unions and the inevitable departure of the NEU from the TUC.

More info:

NEU withdraws from TUC agreement preventing it from organising school support staff | Morning Star

Question for the staff room: Should Unison, GMB and Unite recruit Teaching staff?