NOTIFICATION TO ALL STAFF

RE:PROPOSED STRIKE ACTION ON14 OCTOBER2014

On 31 July 2014, Unison, Unite and GMB issued a joint statement proposing a joint day of national strike action on 14 October 2014. Any such action is of course subject to certain technical and legal processes being completed by unions. The deadline for employers to receive formal notification of the intended action was 7 October 2014. The Council has received notification from Unison, GMB and Unite, which covers their members who are employed by the Council in community schools. Other schools should have received notification directly.

Subject to appropriate notifications being received, the following standard arrangements will apply during this time:-

  • The Governing Body considers any refusal to undertake the duties as set out in your job description and statement of particulars of employment as a breach of contract.
  • Salary will be withheld from employees who do not attend for work on a strike day. Deductions will be made from pay as soon as possible following the end of the strike period.
  • No payment will be made to employees who refuse to cross a picket line and this will be regarded being on strike and treated accordingly. Where an employee has made every effort to cross a picket line but has been unable to do so, the Governing Body has discretion not to treat the absence as being on strike.
  • For support staff, deductions from pay will be made on the basis of the proportion of the normal working week that has been lost, i.e. the normal contracted hours.
  • You may wish to discuss with your union whether any reimbursement will be made by them for lost salary.
  • Uncertified sickness absence will not be accepted. The normal procedure of ‘self certification’ for sickness absence will be suspended for the period in question. You will need to provide a statement of fitness for work (fit note) from your GP if you are absent due to sickness on the day of the strike.
  • Any requests for leave on 14 October 2014 (for example, special leave or annual leave) will only be accepted if the leave has been approved in advance of the notification to strike in the normal way.
  • Each day on strike will not count for pension purposesor for the calculation of service for redundancy purposes. LGPS members may subsequently choose to purchase the amount of pension ‘lost’ due to strike action to mitigate this if they wish.
  • Staff who do not work in the school, or are members of any other union, or do not belong to a union, should work as usual. In such cases of absence, these staff would be taking unofficial action, in which event the Governing Body reserves the right to take such action as appropriate.