Staff at special school willing to strike over suspended union rep

Support staff at a special school have indicated that they’re willing to strike over the suspension of their union rep.

An indicative ballot of UNISON members at Ash Field Academy in Evington, Leicester, asked whether they’d consider industrial action. A petition alongside the ballot, which many members signed, described the suspension as “a bad-faith attack on…. UNISON members” from their employer and a “reprisal for voting for industrial action” in a previous ballot.

The ballot closed on Monday 5 January. Turnout exceeded 50%, with 74% of respondents voting in favour of industrial action. The union will need a formal strike ballot to confirm this decision before calling for action. Some members also indicated that they were willing to participate in a collective grievance.

Academy trust cutting staff and squeezing the union

UNISON Leicester City previously described the decision to suspend “long-standing” steward Tom Barker as “union-busting”. Because the suspension came in the middle of another industrial dispute.

Since taking over Ash Field Academy in 2024, Discovery Schools Academy Trust (DSAT) significantly reduced staffing levels via natural wastage. That is, not replacing those who left. Shortly before the Summer 2025 break, DSAT leaders launched a redundancy consultation which resulted in further cuts to staffing.

Together, these measures led to the loss of approximately 10% of the school’s workforce, mostly frontline workers. Those cuts greatly increased the workload of the remaining staff, stretching them to the point that their health and safety, as well as that of Ash Field students, was at risk.

In a joint statement, UNISON Leicester City and City of Leicester NEU described the redundancy consultation, which took place over just 11 working days, as “rushed” and accused DSAT leaders of:

breaching ACAS’s recommendation for ‘meaningful’ consultation, and…. a dereliction of the employer’s duty of care to its employees.

UNISON also warned DSAT’s leadership that their actions could lead to strikes. But the Trust refused to change course, insisting on pressing ahead with their proposed cuts.

Previous strike call

After the implementation of the redundancies, UNISON balloted Ash Field members for industrial action over the school’s now-inadequate staffing model, and its health and safety and workload impacts. That ballot closed on 22 October 2025, with 86% of members voting for action.

Three working days later, Barker, the UNISON steward in the workplace, was suspended from duty. This decision deprived Ash Field UNISON members of access to their elected representative at a critically important moment.

In negotiations following the October vote for strike action, DSAT leaders agreed to restore staffing to 2024 levels. They also gave a 12-month commitment to make no further compulsory redundancies. However, they’ve so far refused to negotiate on the suspension of the UNISON Steward, and he remains suspended from duty.

With the dispute about staffing over, UNISON Leicester City is calling on DSAT to work constructively with UNISON, including all its elected representatives, to build a working environment that is conducive to quality education and to a healthy and safe workforce. That means lifting Barker’s suspension and settling any residual issues through constructive dialogue.

The petition statement, signed by many UNISON members at Ash Field, asserts that:

We feel DSAT’s actions constitute trade union victimisation – not just of Tom, but of all of us.

The statement adds that members:

have have been left without access to our elected workplace representative, depriving us of a core trade union right in the middle of an industrial dispute.

With around 100 members, Ash Field Academy is one of UNISON Leicester City’s most densely organised workplaces.

Barker also sits on the union’s national executive council. He has worked at Ash Field for nearly 10 years and a UNISON steward at the school since 2019.

Featured image via the Canary