Bristol secondary school staff to strike for more than 20 days until summer holidays

Teachers and support staff at a secondary school in Bristol are set to strike for a further 23 days this academic year over an ongoing dispute.

The National Education Union (NEU) says its members at City Academy Bristol will strike two to three days every week until the summer break. 

The strike action follows a previous six-day walkout at the school in Redfield, which is part of the Cabot Learning Federation multi-academy trust, earlier this year. 

City Academy responded by calling the latest strike “indefensible” and urged the NEU to call off the action.

A NEU spokesperson said the reason for the strike is “the continued failure of the employer to include breaktime within the teachers’ directed time calendar, whilst for support staff at the school the main issue is pay parity and associated back pay with similar roles in other CLF schools.”

NEU senior regional officer Ian McCann said: “Our members are committed to gaining the changes they need; their requirements are reasonable, and they feel frustrated by the response from the employer on these issues to date. 

“We have let the employer know that the action can be postponed if they make an improved offer that is acceptable to members.”

Members will be taking the first of the strike days on June 3 with further action planned on June 4 and 5 and then two to three days of strike action each week until the summer break.

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A spokesperson for City Academy said: “It is to our deep disappointment that the NEU is determined to continue its action.

“The NEU has informed us that it intends to call members out on strike for a further 23 days, including throughout the remainder of the exam period.

“We have pressed multiple times for the NEU Senior Regional Officer to consider delaying action until after the exams have finished if still needed, but sadly this request has been ignored.”

The spokesperson added: “For the last 3 months, we have attempted to resolve the NEU’s concerns – and indeed have met 9 of their 11 demands in full, including going further than they had asked on one area which related to pay parity; this will ensure even more staff benefit from backdated pay where it is applicable.

“We requested both ACAS talks and face-to face talks last week, which again failed to move things forward despite our attempts to engage in discussions in good faith.

“Students have already had their education disrupted over recent years – to have a further 23 days lost to education feels indefensible and we urge the regional representatives of the NEU to engage with us in a constructive way with a view to calling off this action.”