Exploitation Express: TEFL Union enters dispute with English Express

The TEFL Workers’ Union has gone public with a dispute with English Express/Real Action, a charity language school based in North West London. At issue is unpaid and late wages, bogus self-employment, and bullying management.

Teachers at English Express first reached out to the union when they were informed that the school had far less in reserves than it initially believed and, as such, wages would be late.

While the unpaid wages was the straw that broke that camel’s back – and was the catalyst for the staff joining the union en masse – it was not the first issue at the school.

Staff had been asking for contracts for years and have been critical of the management and accounting practices of the deeply conservative board of trustees. One staff member went so far as to raise a complaint with the Charity Commission.

According to one of teachers:

“It goes without saying the philanthropic efforts of charities shouldn’t be underpinned by workplace abuse and a disregard of employee rights, safety or well-being. The teachers of English Express are unfortunately another example of how the abuse at smaller charities goes under the radar.”

English Express is part of Real Action, a charity that also runs The Butterfly Program, a youth reading program that goes into local schools and community centres. 

The staff of English Express have lived in limbo for months, unsure of whether they’ll have enough money or hours to continue to support themselves or their families, let alone continue their efforts to do what they love: supporting vulnerable young people and adult migrants to learn English.

According to Tom Liebewitz, a union representative who has been supporting the English Express staff:

“As always, we give employers the chance to do right by their staff. We’ve sought good-faith resolutions from English Express for months. It’s management’s recalcitrance that has led us to the point of a public campaign.”

English Express has frequently denied their employees full wages, sometimes with as little as three days’ notice as well as misclassifying teachers as self-employed. 

To add insult to injury, management have now begun to supplant teaching staff with unpaid, untrained volunteers. 

As English Express is a Callan school, the union informed the Callan organisation that English Express is using unpaid, non-Callan accredited teachers.

“We reached out to Callan directly,” says Mr Liebewitz.

“Sadly, if predictably, Callan refused to intervene to support the English Express staff, some of whom have been Callan-certified for over a decade. This is an indictment of Callan as much as it is of English Express.”

Staff also allege that management have been “freezing out” more vocal members of staff by denying them hours or having their classes taken over by unpaid volunteers.

According to a teacher at the school:

“The only progress made with management has been the offer of not-fit-for-purpose zero-hours contracts shoddily issued some 24 hours before a collective grievance meeting in attempts of diffusing the complaint.”

Staff also allege that Dr Folasade Lamikanra, director and trustee of Real Action/English Express, has engaged in a campaign of bullying and stonewalling, going as far as outright denying the existence of the teachers’ union rights. 

As one of the teachers put it: 

“The unabashed disregard for their employees, by both trustees and management of English Express, demonstrates that they believe they will face no consequences and that the size of the charity itself cloaks them from legal ramifications.”

Adding:

“Charities, like all employers, must be held accountable for their behaviour, especially when antithetical to the core principle of a charity: helping people.”