Dame Allans Newcastle - Strikes

[Magpiefan]

Did any other DAS parents pick up a copy of the union leaflet about the strikes this morning. A lot more detail of the position than we have received from the school, and the deal being imposed on the teachers is terrible.

The school made out that teachers were asking for something extra when they just don’t want to be stuffed over by having their pension entitlement drastically cut – and fire and rehire, let’s see where that leads us. I’m paying them to give the best education possible to my children, by recruiting the best and well-motivated staff. If the school gets their way this will only end in teachers leaving.

Planning permission for the new sports facilities is readily available on the Newcastle planning portal – it looks like the teachers are going to be stuffed over to pay for it.

Can’t imagine what the atmosphere is like in staff room at the moment.
If you disagree with what is happening suggest you email the principal and governors to tell them. Seem like the teachers have reached the end of the line with negotiations, a bit of parent power might help.

Hopefully this is promising

FYI
The strike today covered by the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-68668818.amp

The strike was also featured on BBC Look North (a bit more detailed than the article), video uploaded in the NEU Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NEUnorthern/videos/384606444379993

Also from the NEU page: fire and rehire is now off the table so negotiations can now commence.

Great news about fire-and-rehire, as presumably the letters would have had to go out today or tomorrow. Solidarity!

Amazing to see the impact of collective action. Though work is not finished yet but making a big noise through social media, strikes, petition, emails, definitely put a lot of pressure to the powers that be.

Here's the link to the petition mentioned in the video, can we get to 200 signatures? 🙌
Please share:

www.petitiononline.uk/parents_supporting_dame_allans_teachers_to_remain_in_the_tps#sign

Just signed the petition.

I'm not in the WhatsApp groups but if folks could post the petition on there (they probably have already) that would be great.

Anyone have any updates? I know it's only the first day back but I haven't heard anything since before Easter hols.

Nope not a dicky bird since we were told the strikes had been suspended pending further negotiation.

It's all gone very quiet! Do we assume it's all done and sorted or are they still negotiating? On the other hand, I guess we could also be about to suddenly find out there are more strike days coming up. Fingers crossed no news is good news and the governors have got everything sorted again.

As I understand it’s far from sorted.

There was a revised offer on the table as part of the deal suspending the strikes.
The threat of fire and rehire was withdrawn.

The revised offer was still not acceptable as it meant that to stay in TPS the staff had to take a pay cut and pay freeze which meant dropping below state school pay scales and, after consultation with the teaching unions, was firmly rejected at a meeting with the governors on Monday.

The governors have gone away for another rethink but it looks like they will have to be very creative as any offer that means that DA staff are 1) taken out of TPS or 2) asked to take a pay deal that doesn’t, at the very least, maintain parity with the state sector is dead in the water.

The strike mandate is still in place but no strikes are planned (at the moment) pending the next revised offer.

Meanwhile the new £30k term time only rowing coach job advert and £25k already spent on rowing machines while all of this goes on seems to have ruffled a few feathers amongst the staff. And 4 vacant positions have been put on the school website since the strikes were suspended.

Hope none of them are increasing head count even further as that would be a bit of a contradiction for a school that states it can’t afford to pay the existing staff in accordance with their contracts.

The job descriptions and information pack states ‘Teachers are paid on our own Dame Allan’s pay scale which is more than the national scales’ and ‘All teaching staff may join our competitive employer contributions Pension Scheme’ so it seems that the intention is to keep pay for new teachers at the current levels (which is only a couple of % above state sector) but to enrol then in the DC scheme that the existing teachers have rejected out of hand.

Good luck with the recruitment drive DAS.

Never though I’d resurrect this thread but does anyone know what is happening with the pensions issue at DAS. It all seems to have gone quiet but there is now a letter from the Burser doing the rounds asking parents to support the planning application for the new hockey pitch.

I thought the new hockey pitch was a big part of the issue that led to the strikes and that the teachers claimed they were being asked to take a cut to pension contribution so that the school could use the money that was being saved to fund this.

As the planning is going ahead does that mean they have taken this cut or, as the fee increase hasn’t yet been announced do I have to brace myself, or has the school come into some additional money from somewhere.

I believe the fee increase for 24-25 school year is on the website?
We received an email with a letter from the governors and Mr Scott via email last week

Thank you, desperately searching for the email, not sure how that could have been missed!! But will have a check on the website

I think the senior school parents received the bursar letter about the planning application. I'm not aware of any junior parents receiving one though.
My concern is that the 'funding pot' school has is not unlimited. Only a few months ago the teachers were prepared to go out on strike because their pension was being spent on facilities upgrades and undervaluing them. How can that situation have been resolved (or is it more swept under the carpet) and now this has arrived? Has DAS suddenly had a wealthy investor or found a stash of cash under the mattress somewhere? Or are they returning to the schools plans to spend on facilities not staff? I'm rather hesitant this evening having read this letter from the bursar. I fear the teachers could strike again - and let's face it, nobody wants that! Or has some deal been done in the background?

That's my worry as well, there has never been an official announcement that the pension issue has been resolved. (or did I miss that email as well!) If the school is forging ahead with the plans for a hockey pitch where is the money coming from. If the schools comments from earlier in the year are to be believed the financial situation was desperate.

This is the letter

I’m pretty sure I haven’t been sent that letter and my child is at the high school. How odd.

@TooOldtoArgue we received that letter the other day, email rather than physical letter.

As far as I know, there has not been an official announcement to confirm whether the pension issue has been resolved or if it's still being thrashed out.

End of term update

This is good news, I hope the teachers and staff didn't have to concede too much of what they were asking from the school.

Thank you to all the parents who were involved. I think without the collective pressure from the parents, the school wouldn't budge from their initial stance.

Now, let's go out and VOTE on Thursday! 😁

Sadly, the teachers had to concede quite a lot. Although they have the option to remain in the TPS, this is at the expense of a pay freeze until such time as annual pay rises take the other teachers (new starters and those opting for DC) up to a salary of 9.9% (a figure to be monitored and possibly adjusted) greater than those remaining in the TPS. Meanwhile those in the DC have employer pension contribution of only 17%. By the time the two pay scales have equalised, both cohorts will in effect have taken a 10% pay cut. Those in the TPS in the form of lost pay rises, and those in the DC scheme in the form of an eventual lower pension in retirement. 10% also happens to be (at the lower end of) the projected effect on fees of the VAT rise (after taking into account input VAT offsets). So in effect, the teachers are paying the bulk of the VAT increase, rather than parents, in the long run.

I should clarify that the input VAT offset does not mean that parents' invoices will go up by less than 20%. They will go up 20%, because VAT will be added on. However, the school will be able to recover some input VAT, which will reduce its costs. It is difficult to say by how much, but this, combined with lower staff costs (compared to what they would have been without the pension changes) will mean the school will not have to raise fees by as much as if it had kept all teachers in the TPS and continued to give them pay rises.

Did parents get this information? Have I missed that email? Or I assume you have some insider information. Thank you for sharing and please keep your source secret as who knows what disciplinary actions could be taken if it is a member of staff. I would hate to get anyone into trouble.
So if I am understanding this correctly, the teachers have effectively taken a 10% pay cut to stay in TPS. Either they are incredibly dedicated to the Dame Allan's family and our children, or they won't be sticking around too much longer. Surely this is a potential recruitment nightmare for the future as our dedicated, hard working teachers are forced to move elsewhere and we're left hoping that other teachers are happy to work for less than they would receive anywhere else. Oh dear 😕 maybe that new hockey pitch shouldn't be the priority right now!

Wow you seem to have a lot of information - are you a teacher there or a union rep?
Compared to my pension, a 17% contribution is huge!