This year saw the TEFL Workers’ Union continue to grow, campaign, and win. We’ve continued to hold ELT bosses to account, and shown that when we fight we win.
Don’t mess with the union!
2023 saw a string of public victories for our union, alongside groups of workers raising issues of pay and conditions collectively.
This year we’ve won against a number of bosses who’d wanted to introduce unfair contract changes or who tried to make unlawful redundancies. In some of these instances, we’ve secured payouts that amount to months of work, totalling thousands of pounds. In others, we’ve stopped the contract changes or redundancies in their tracks!
In two issues all-too-familiar to TEFL workers, we’ve helped secure the payment of unpaid holiday pay and helped ensure teachers have the correct employment status.
Alongside our work supporting workers, we’ve spread the union to new cities. In July, we hosted a meet-up in Oxford. In the new year, we’re hoping to do something similar in Manchester. If you work in an ELT school in Manchester and you want to make your life at work better, drop us a line!
Legal victories and big payouts!
No one ever wants to be in the position of taking their employer to an employment tribunal, but if you are, having the backing of a union makes all the difference.
In May, we won a Covid whistleblowing case. October saw a Bournemouth teacher win big in a case of constructive dismissal related to mental health. And in December, a London teacher won a huge payout in another constructive dismissal case. More details to follow!
Next year, we are excited to announce that we are taking one of the big chains to tribunal challenging the legitimacy of including admin and prep in the hourly teaching rate. If we win that one, it’ll be a game-changer, so keep an eye out!
Day-to-day support
Many of our victories are simply holding managers to account. A worker gets an email or gets pulled into a meeting with a boss who bullies them, threatens a disciplinary, or messes with their schedule.
This worker then gets in contact with the union and a rep helps the worker write an email to their boss standing up for themselves. In most instances, this can resolve the situation. Sometimes it takes a letter from the union to get the boss’ attention. A little bit of letterhead goes a long way.
All of which is to say: If you have a problem, don’t suffer in silence! The sooner you approach the union, the sooner and more effectively we can offer help!
The battles ahead
This year we picked up our most high-profile campaign yet, organising and supporting online teachers and examiners at the British Council.
We have been supporting a teacher there who was sacked after raising concerns that the scheduling system – which she alleges often requires teachers to wake up in the middle of the night – was damaging the mental health of staff. This union will always support whistleblowers and we’ve had ongoing international protests as a way to draw attention to the case and let the BC know that this isn’t going away quietly!
If you work at the BC, get involved! Our membership there is growing and we’ve helped build an international coalition of BC unions and workers’ organisations to hold the BC to account!
Get involved!
If you work in ELT, we are the union for you. If you’re not a member, join today. If you’re already a member, get involved!
Consider:
- Getting trained up as a rep to help with casework
- Coming with your workmates to the union office (or scheduling a Zoom) to discuss tackling bigger issues like pay or permanent contracts
- Donating to the legal fund of Marina, our alleged British Council whistleblower
A message for 2024
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that when we have the confidence to stand up and fight back, we win. This isn’t always easy. It may require us to step outside of our comfort zones and be willing to put in the hours. But, if we are willing to do that, we can challenge an industry that regularly fails to treat us with the dignity and respect we deserve.
So the message for 2024 is this: join the union, speak to your workmates about the problems you all face at work, and then reach out to us. We are the union for workers in the UK’s English language schools. We will offer support and advice to you and your workmates as you take those first steps to making your job better. We’ve got your back.
And when we fight, we win.