{"id":43532,"date":"2025-11-07T14:04:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=43532"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:43:09","slug":"union-claims-school-trust-ceo-confused-over-strike-action-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2025\/11\/07\/union-claims-school-trust-ceo-confused-over-strike-action-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Union claims school trust CEO &#8216;confused&#8217; over strike action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-2048x1153.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-746x420.jpg 746w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Strike-and-cathedral-edit-copy-681x383.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Picket line at Bristol Cathedral Choir School on Wednesday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A teaching union in Bristol claims the Cathedral School Trust\u2019s CEO suggested he didn\u2019t even know what his support staff were striking over during negotiations yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sheila Caffrey from the National Education Union (NEU) revealed unions met with the trust\u2019s CEO to discuss back-pay demands following two days of strike action across 12 Bristol schools this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She claimed the CEO was dismissive of the negotiations, saying: \u201cHe said there was nothing on offer at all, and he was still very confused and didn\u2019t know what people were even asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Great turnout from staff across schools in Bristol this morning!<br><br>Teaching assistants, administrators, librarians, finance officers, caretakers, and caterers working for Cathedral Schools Trust are striking over back pay they&#39;re owed.<br><br>We stand with school support staff \ud83d\udc9c <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qW9mVBigcM\">pic.twitter.com\/qW9mVBigcM<\/a><\/p>&mdash; UNISON &#8211; UK&#39;s largest union (@unisontheunion) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/unisontheunion\/status\/1986081915548451164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dispute arises over support staff claiming they are owed hundreds of pounds worth of back pay due to CST withholding pay rises for five months of each year. Pay rises are negotiated in April aligned with the financial year yet were only implemented in September, Unison claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week&#8217;s strikes saw teaching assistants, administrators, librarians, finance officers, caretakers and caterers walk out. They were accompanied by teachers and students with all 12 schools forced to close on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the picket line at Cathedral Primary School, a learning support assistant called Fran said she was striking &#8220;to get back the money that I am owed by the trust&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I feel, and other people feel, that they&#8217;ve stolen from us,&#8221; she added. She emphasised how support staff are the lowest paid in the schools and therefore are the worst affected by withheld pay increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-747x420.jpg 747w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Group-of-Unison-strikers-on-side-of-road-edited-2-681x383.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Support staff on the picket line at Cathedral Primary School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen Clarke works in pastoral care at Cathedral Primary school: &#8220;It&#8217;s an important stand because schools are really important- our children are really important. To support our children we need to have staff who have been paid properly and not disrespected by their leaders.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She has two children of her own and says the underpayment &#8220;affects every part of her life&#8221; and that she &#8220;struggles financially&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Nobody likes being paid in hugs and nods,&#8221; explained Christof, who works at Bristol Cathedral Choir School. He works with children who would otherwise struggle in mainstream education, such as neurodivergent students or refugees who have English as an additional language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It kind of needs to be acknowledged that when you are support staff you are not on a very high pay scale and the work you do might be quite demanding,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43598\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Artistic-Christof-edited-copy-1-681x383.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christof on the picket line holding a flag reading &#8220;Pay Up!&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Green Councillor of Hotwells and Harbourside, Patrick McAllister, attended Bristol Cathedral Choir School&#8217;s picket on behalf of Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;As your Green MP, I am proud to support workers in the face of exploitation. The situation that support staff at Cathedral Schools Trust have been pushed into by the academy trust management is shameful. Hundreds and thousands of pounds lost over years,&#8221; said Cllr McAllister in a speech on behalf of Denyer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-747x420.jpg 747w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy-681x383.jpg 681w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Flags-closer-from-behind-edited-copy.jpg 1854w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The picket lines started as early as 7:30 on Wednesday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A spokesperson from the CST said: \u201cTo support colleagues, the trust has made significant financial commitments, but we must also protect school budgets to ensure we can continue delivering the high-quality education our young people deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are continuing to work proactively with the unions to resolve this as soon as possible, and our focus remains on supporting our schools to minimise disruption and maintain the best possible learning experience for our pupils and families\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NEU have confirmed upcoming strike dates of the 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th and 20th of November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A teaching union in Bristol claims the Cathedral School Trust\u2019s CEO suggested he didn\u2019t even know what his support staff were striking over during negotiations yesterday. Sheila Caffrey from the National Education Union (NEU) revealed unions met with the trust\u2019s CEO to discuss back-pay demands following two days of strike action across 12 Bristol schools [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":328,"featured_media":43597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1764,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43532"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43668,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43532\/revisions\/43668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}