Nursery World - Support staff offered contract blueprint

The final touches to a possible blueprint for local authorities in England and Wales negotiating the pay and conditions of school support staff have been put together between union negotiators and Birmingham City Council. The GMB union said last week that it believed the deal that it and Unison have struck with the local authority could, if accepted by the support staff, provide a template for the rest of England. The unions, which represent more than 4,000 support staff in over 450 schools in Birmingham, said last week that a 'breakthrough' had been made after several years of negotiations between both the unions and Birmingham City Council.

The GMB union said last week that it believed the deal that it and Unison have struck with the local authority could, if accepted by the support staff, provide a template for the rest of England. The unions, which represent more than 4,000 support staff in over 450 schools in Birmingham, said last week that a 'breakthrough' had been made after several years of negotiations between both the unions and Birmingham City Council.

Rob Kelsall, GMB regional organiser for school support staff in the West Midlands, said, 'We have been in discussions for two years with the city on a new career structure for higher level teaching assistants. Last autumn the local authority felt that it had gone as far as it could in delivering a new career structure, but we said it wasn't good enough.

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