Teacher Flexible work - union?

[josephine876]

Hello,

In October I am returning to work 3 days a we which was agreed before I went on maternity leave. I'm a primary teacher in an all through school but my deputes deal with most of the day to day issues. A few weeks ago I had a phone conversation with one of my deputes about my working days. I asked if it would be possible to work on a Monday as MIL will reduce her days at that day would be easiest for her to look after my two little ones. Her response was that 'that wouldn't be a problem' so I went and made childcare arrangement and my MIL agreed wieg het employer that her day off would be Monday.
Last week my other depute phoned me informing me my working days would be Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and the other depute had "no recollection" of me asking for the Monday. This has big ifinancial implications for my childcare arrangements and I just don't know what to do. As this was giving me a lot of anxiety I got in touch again and she told me there was nothing she could do because she needed to ensure continuity for the children. I've been advised to get the union involved but I'm not too sure. Anyone who can offer some words of advice?

Thanks!

Why would you not speak to your union ? This is exactly what you have been paying them for since you started teaching.

As an aside, how is you working Tues, Thurs, Fri, "ensure continuity for the children" ? Sounds like more of a chopped up week than either Mon, Tues, Wed or Wed, Thurs Fri

I would be in class 2 days (Th Fr) and covering for someone the other day. I was worried that there wouldn't be a lot the union could do as I only had a verbal agreement with my depute.

Does your potential jobshare already work Mondays Tues and Wed ?

I've not been involved for a while now, but it always used to be down to 'reasonable'. Now, if the school has 3 or 4 people that work PT, you can't have them all working on the same days - or, more importantly, not working on the same days. Does that come into it ?

DH is a part time teacher and theoretically the agreement is for 0.6 working hours. Every year he has to request the days he can work al(it’s around childcare for us too) and there is never a guarantee. I’m not sure the union will be able to help but you should definitely try.

Your specific days are not in your contract. My school always try to give me what I want but it’s not always possible. Your union can’t help here as the school are not being unreasonable. No school would guarantee any days before 31st May as they don’t know their staffing yet.

There's no harm in talking to your union so you know you tried, but I agree with others they'll just advise you that there's no guarantee on your days.