Walk-out threat in Brighton and Hove schools' pay row (From The Argus)

Walk-out threat in Brighton and Hove schools' pay row

3:10pm Tuesday 10th March 2009 in

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More than 200 teaching assistants and school support staff could strike after being left out of a £37 million equal pay deal which sees other workers being given up to £25,000 each.

There was anger among women staff at faith schools in Brighton and Hove yesterday as they found out they had not been included in Brighton and Hove City Council plans for a one-off payout to compensate women who had been paid less than men.

Cheques for up to £25,000 have been offered to hundreds of council employees, including teaching assistants, cleaners and office staff at about three quarters of the city's state schools.

Their counterparts at the remaining quarter, the 15 Catholic and Church of England junior and primary schools and Cardinal Newman Catholic School, the largest secondary in the city, have been left out.

The council said they were omitted on a legal technicality because although it provides most of their funding, the governing bodies of faith schools officially employ the workers.

The council said staff at schools directly employed by them had been able to claim compensation because they could argue they were not paid equally in comparison with men with similar skills working in other departments, notably binmen.

In most faith school cases there is no such comparison.

The only male staff they can compare their wages with would be teaching assistants who are largely paid the same.

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