Sheffield Girls' School: Teachers continue strike action to pile pressure on trust over ‘inadequate’ proposals

Union members at Sheffield Girls' School in Broomhall are among those at 23 schools nationwide staging three further days of strike from today, Tuesday, March 1, to Thursday, March 3, in response to their employer’s plan to pull out of the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS).

The employers, the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST), which has moved to pull out of the pension scheme, has been criticised by the National Education Union (NEU).

The union members voted in favour of strike action in early February, saying they would be 'at least 20 per cent worse off' in terms of annual pension payments without the scheme in place.

According to the union, the trust has been pursuing a plan to remove teaching staff from the pension scheme which was approved at a meeting of trustees on Monday, February 21.

The NEU met with the employer on Wednesday (February 23), where the union said its representatives made a 'pragmatic and reasonable' proposal to the trust to settle the dispute.

The union said the trust came back with a different proposal on February 25, which allowed teachers to remain on the TPS but with ‘insufficient detail’ on the two-tier system that would then be created.

Under the previous proposal, teaching staff were offered to stay within the TPS for a longer period until September 30, 2023, a full two years from the start of collective consultation, and all GDST staff in independent schools will be awarded a pay rise.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “We welcome moves by the Girls’ Day School Trust to find a solution to the current dispute, but successive proposals have been inadequate or incomplete.

"We do not yet know the full detail of their latest plan, which appears to have unknown strings attached and was delivered too late for proper consideration.

"Finding a quicker resolution is very much in the gift of the employer, whereas the NEU will continue with the overwhelming mandate of its members to keep up the pressure."

Trust: ‘NEU rejected our request’

In response to the latest move, the trust expressed its disappointment that the union has rejected its proposal.

Under the new and updated proposal released on Monday (February 28), said the trust, means that teachers will have personal choice about how they receive their total reward.

The trust said future pay rises for teachers will be calculated using a formula that maintains ongoing parity in the cost to the GDST of providing the total reward for all teachers, whichever pension scheme they choose to be part of.

The trust said it has ‘consistently asked the NEU’ to suspend strike action while these new proposals are considered by teachers.

The NEU has however declined to engage with these new proposals on behalf of their members, GDST said.

The trust said future pay rises for teachers will be calculated using a formula that maintains ongoing parity in the cost to the GDST of providing the total reward for all teachers, whichever pension scheme they choose to be part of.

Cheryl Giovannoni, CEO of the GDST, said: “The GDST is wholly disheartened that the NEU has refused to stand down strikes with this updated offer on the table.

"Every effort has been made to give teachers the choice to remain in the TPS and we cannot understand the NEU’s position not to work with us to bring teachers back to the classroom to support our students while discussions are ongoing.

“We know that there are teachers who will choose to join the GDST Flexible Pension Plan, and on that basis we believe it is important to keep it as an alternative to the TPS.

"The proposal as it now stands offers our teachers a clear choice, whilst supporting the long-term future of the GDST family of schools.

"We are now appealing directly to teachers in the hope that they will accept this offer and the good faith that lies behind it; that they will choose to allow us to work with them to heal the rifts that have been created, and to restore confidence and trust in the organisation.”