STAFF at a Coventry secondary school are going on strike in a dispute over large-scale redundancies.
Over 830 members of the National Education Union (NEU) across the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) – which runs West Coventry Academy along with 23 other schools in the region – have begun an initial nine days of strike action this month.
Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike to protest the threat of over 100 job losses across the ATLP, which the union says is due to ‘financial mistakes at the Trust’.
The NEU says the redundancies would damage students’ education and lead to larger class sizes, more workload for staff and less support for children.
A spokesperson said: “The NEU and other unions still do not feel we have enough financial information from the Trust to be able to properly consult on these proposals.
“Central spending in the Trust appears to massively outweigh that of other academy trusts, running at 24 per cent of school budgets last year.
“Cutting teachers, support staff and pastoral roles in schools will cause lasting damage to education in our schools, and members are standing in defence of the children they teach and the communities they serve.”
Chris Denson, Joint Secretary for the Coventry NEU, said the proposed cuts would hit the Trust’s most vulnerable students the hardest.
He added: “The cuts come as a result of financial errors at the Trust, something teachers and support staff should not bear the brunt of.
“Top Slice central funding contribution to the ATLP is running at over 20 per cent of every school’s budget, way above that of other academies. This is where the cuts should land, not on front line services.
“We strike as a last resort, and call on the ATLP to remove the proposals so that we can find a negotiated resolution to the issue, whilst protecting the education of our children.”
A spokesperson for ATLP said the Trust was committed to tackling the financial challenges it faces to bring stability as quickly as possible, but that meant taking ‘some difficult decisions’.
They added: “We have identified numerous savings through reducing non-staffing costs. We have also started a consultation on a restructure of the organisation.
“We are continuing to implement a programme of significant change to improve the trust’s financial position, including appointing a new interim finance director to provide oversight on how decisions are made and evaluated.
“The industrial action is regrettable as pupils will miss vital days of education and parents will be hugely inconvenienced.
“We are doing all we can to resolve the dispute as swiftly as possible and we continue to seek constructive talks with the NEU. Plans are in place to minimise any disruption to learning on those days when strikes are planned.”
The first strikes took place on Wednesday and Thursday (January 14 and 15), with more planned on January 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28 and 29.
