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#1 Posted : 28 November 2002 17:38:00(UTC)
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Posted By Richard Forster Here in LBWF we are interested in how other LEA's quantify time off for safety reps in school to carry out their functions. Obviously this is an area that is right for negotiation. We are eager to hear from anyone who has agreed standards for Safety Reps working in Nursery, Infant, Junior, Primary, Special Needs, Secondary etc schools. We want to work in partnership with the unions to agree sensible and reasonable timeframes - so this is a kind of benchmarking exercise. If you have agreed standards for your Safety Reps then please get in touch. If you have Safety Reps who cover more than one school, or even a cluster of schools please identify yourself!
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#2 Posted : 29 November 2002 08:30:00(UTC)
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Posted By John Dodson Richard, we have a 'Safety Representatives Agreement' with our recognised TUs (& have had since 1980 although it was revised a few years ago). It covers whole CC but includes schools. It is not very specific with regard to quantifying time off; in essence they are entitled to time off to carry out their functions. However, it is rarely an area of contention. If you would like a copy, e-mail me: john.dodson@essexcc.gov.uk John
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#3 Posted : 02 December 2002 11:35:00(UTC)
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Posted By Zoe Barnett Richard, this gave us a lot of problems because technically we could have a rep from each of three or four unions on the staff of any one school. Schools were naturally very wary of the time and inconvenience of having to accommodate this, and of course the potential for conflict was enormous ("well the NUT said it was okay but UNISON have banned it and the GMB have forbidden members to talk about it...") So from our point of view the letter, if not the spirit, of the regs. was unworkable. What we are in the process of agreeing is this: that school staff will elect one rep to act on behalf of everyone, regardless of which union, if any, they are in. This person will be seconded to the appropriate committee of the governing body (governors of course having responsibility for H&S in schools.) The rep can then combine his or her inspections/reports/other duties with those of the governors and can also act on behalf of any member of staff with a concern or complaint. It should also sort out the communication problems between staff and governors. Of course only this one person has to have the time off and training. We recognised that some school staff will not want to have a formal rep and that this will be acceptable as long as everyone is aware that they have the right to introduce this system as and when. Our H&S committee is well attended by the various unions and they are all happy with this (in fact the system was suggested by the NAHT.) If all goes according to plan we should have it in place as a formal system by the end of term. Hope this gives you some useful food for thought.
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#4 Posted : 03 December 2002 10:28:00(UTC)
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Posted By Richard Forster Thanks for that. Our position is that one union is pushing to have their senior safety rep to carry out the function in all schools that have not nominated a rep (to protect their members).
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#5 Posted : 03 December 2002 10:52:00(UTC)
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Posted By Laurie Is this not akin to the "roving rep" which the TUC are looking towards? Laurie
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#6 Posted : 03 December 2002 11:14:00(UTC)
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Posted By Jerry Sanderson The N.U.T. have just set up a roving rep in Derbyshire with the agreement of all the other teacher associations.There is also a collective agreement that where there is a rep for one teacher association in a school they will represent all the other associations in that school.As I understand it the N.U.T. roving rep will cover all schools where there is no rep from any other association.I cannot give you any more detail than this as I was not involved in the discussions to set up this system but hope this helps. Regards. Jerry.
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