Teachers at 23 private schools have ended weeks of strike action after voting to accept a new pensions offer from the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST).
Teacher-members of the NEU teaching union at the schools first went on strike last month in opposition to the GDST’s plans to withdraw from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS).
The NEU said that exiting the scheme would leave affected teachers 20 per cent worse off, on average, in terms of their annual pension payments.
Now, teachers have won the right to stay in the TPS, the threat of “fire and rehire” practices have been withdrawn and an enhanced pay offer has been made for all staff, teachers and support staff, following talks mediated by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), the union said today.
It said that, as a result of the decision, staff would be ending strike action and returning to the classroom.
But, the NEU added that it remains concerned about proposals to close the TPS scheme to new teachers - as only current teachers will remain on the scheme - and also said that there was “significant work” to be done to try and rebuild the staff’s trust and confidence in their employer.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “NEU members of the GDST should be proud of the solidarity, resolution and spirit they have shown throughout this dispute.
“In standing up for their rights they were forced to take unprecedented and historic strike action to defend their pensions.
“Our members at GDST, 80 per cent of them women, gave a ‘live’ lesson in the values that they seek to instil in the girls they educate: being principled, knowing your worth and standing up for what is right.”
Negotiations between the two parties have been held throughout the past few weeks, but industrial action has continued and was only paused last week as a result of the Acas mediation.
A growing number of private schools have left the TPS after the government raised the rate of employers’ contributions by 43 per cent in 2019.
While state schools were covered for the increase by the government, private schools were not. More than 300 private schools have given notice to leave the scheme since 2019.
Last month, after several days of strike action, the GDST tabled an offer to allow staff to stay in the TPS until September 2023, which was rejected.
It then tabled a new offer that, it said, gave teachers a choice between continued membership of the TPS, under what it calls “favourable terms”, or joining a separate GDST pension plan. But the NEU said the offer appeared “to have unknown strings attached”.
Cheryl Giovannoni, CEO at GDST, said the Trust was “proud” to have put forward an offer that was both “forward-thinking and sector-defining” in its design.
She the trust was “committed” to working with its heads, teachers and support staff to “restore the spirit that is unique to the GDST community”.
She added: “We are pleased that, with the feedback from our teachers and their recognised trade union, the NEU, we have reached a position which teachers have accepted and that gives them a choice on how they wish to receive their total reward, depending on their personal circumstances.
“Importantly, these proposals are equally conducive to the long-term sustainability of the GDST and our charitable purpose of reaching as many girls as possible, across our family of schools.”
