Strike action at Roedean has been put on hold after the school made an improved offer to staff.
Teachers and support staff who belong to the NEU walked out for the first time in the prestigious school’s 140-year history this month.
They were striking in protest at job cuts, pay cuts and changes to their pensions.
Further walkouts were planned today, tomorrow and Thursday – but today’s action was paused last week pending a meeting today, where the new offer was made.
The rest of the week’s strike has been withdrawn and all action put on hold while an online vote is held to decide whether to accept the offer.
When the strike action was first announced last month, NEU regional secretary Phil Clarke said: “We are calling for the trustees to drop the use of fire and rehire to coerce staff to accept alterations to contracts under threat of dismissal and also to withdraw compulsory redundancies.
“Our members have voted overwhelmingly for strike action. They have engaged in good faith with the trustees in the consultation process to try to resolve the situation without the need for industrial action.
“NEU members do not engage in this action lightly, but it is clear to them that industrial action is their only option in this situation.
“Fees at Roedean School are some of the highest in the sector with annual boarding fees being around £45,000. It is therefore galling for many members to be told that they are facing a reduction in their pay or pension.
“As well as jobs being at risk, with the cost-of-living crisis affecting low paid workers in Brighton more and more, support staff are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to live close to the school, and so the changes proposed by the employer are simply unacceptable.”
Teachers at Roedean are members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), a government run scheme which guarantees benefits based on career length and salary. All state schoolteachers and most of those working in independent schools are members of the TPS.
The union said the school’s trustees want to cap the school’s contribution to the TPS at 22 per cent. This means that, teachers in the TPS will have to fund the difference via reduced take-home pay (equivalent to a 6.68 per cent pay cut) or move to a proposed inferior private (defined contribution) scheme.
It says the trustees have stated their intention to force through changes to contracts by use of the controversial fire and rehire procedure, with dismissal of staff who refuse to sign a new contract incorporating the above terms.
The union says the restructure will only affect junior staff, with none of the 13 members of the senior leadership team set to lose their jobs.
