Alex Snowdon reports on successful strike action by NEU members which has defeated management at a big academy chain and led to the departure of its CEO

Hundreds of striking school staff won a major victory this week. National Education Union members in the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, a large multi academy trust (MAT) in the West Midlands, comprehensively won their demands.

Around 800 NEU members in 20 ATLP schools took nine days of strike action during January, with large picket line turnouts across the Trust. The strike action was backed by a major campaign of rallies, political pressure and building support among parents.

The strikes have removed the threat of a hundred compulsory redundancies. Striking staff have also halted attacks on conditions like regrading staff and removing payments for additional responsibilities. They have protected funding reserved for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, some of which was previously being ‘top sliced’.

The dispute drew attention to the issue of top slicing, whereby a multi academy trust sucks money into its own central operations – including the pay packets of senior managers. Hugely excessive top slicing was part of the justification for threatened redundancies. There is now a commitment to massively reduce this.

This is an increasingly common effect of academisation. It was reported this week that Harris Federation CEO Dan Moynihan had a pay rise taking him to £530,000 a year.

The dispute also focused attention on the wider crisis of school funding. This victory helps build a mood of confidence in the run up to the NEU’s national ballot, to be launched on 28^th February, over pay and funding.

The strike action (and the organising and balloting process that led to it) brought a number of lasting benefits. NEU membership in the schools grew massively since the dispute began, with hundreds joining the union.

A formidable network of school reps and powerful school groups has been built out of the action. A number of democratic mass meetings, with hundreds taking part, took place during the dispute.

The dispute rocked the leadership of ATLP, leading to a number of resignations including the chief executive officer and chief finance officer. It has also established new bargaining arrangements for the long term, both at Trust level and for individual schools.

The ATLP strikes are part of a significant increase in NEU disputes at school or MAT level. This includes a growing number of victories – sometimes due to the threat of strikes, sometimes after strikes have happened. The outcome will particularly embolden those who face threats from heavily centralised MATs adopting a more and more corporate model.