NEU Em

To all Sunderland NEU members

The last few days have been very hectic for everyone with information and guidance on dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic changing very quickly. The NEU has been involved in talks with national and local government, Trusts and individual schools on your behalf to ensue you are being treated fairly during this period.

School openings - In Sunderland, there are approx. 600 students attending school daily and the local authority are considering moving to hub-schools. We are due to discuss this and other issues with the Local Authority next Tuesday (31^st march) and will update when more is known, but if this will cause you difficulties then please get in touch.

Most schools are now adopting a staff rota, with the majority of staff being allowed to work from home. If your school is not doing this, or there are problems with the rota, then please let us know.

The Government wants schools to open during the Easter holiday for a small number of children of key workers. During the Easter period, staff participation should be on a voluntary basis, operated on a rots basis and ensuring that staff get their expected leave from work. It should not be assumed that staff can change their plans for the Easter period as family members' work arrangements may well be different.

The NEU believes that staff leave should be operated on a rota basis, so that staff get two weeks off before, during or after the period when the school would normally be closed for Easter. Operating rotas on the basis of weeks rather than days off would significantly reduce the number of colleagues with whom there is contact.

All arrangements must be reasonable and should be subject to consultation and agreement between school leaders and staff. Following consultation and agreement, schools should set out clearly to all staff what the arrangements for Easter will be. School leaders are also entitled to time off and should not have unreasonable expectations imposed on them

Vulnerable Staff & family members - NEU advice is that all vulnerable staff should be working from home, and we are making the case that any staff with a vulnerable member of their household should also work from home. This should be on full pay and any attempts to say it should be taken as unpaid leave should be resisted.

Latest advice - The NEU website is being updated daily with advice for members. Advice on the most common issues for members is available at https://neu.org.uk/advice/coronavirus-members

We have updated Health & Safety guidance which now covers additional areas such as removal of rings, keeping nails short to aid hand washing and there is also a new section on a recommended procedure on arriving back home from school, based on best practice for health care workers. https://neu.org.uk/advice/coronavirus-keeping-yourself-safe

We also have daily talking points detailing the issues which the NEU is currently pressing the government on, which can be found at https://neu.org.uk/coronavirus-what-we-say-today

Keeping in touch - Please do get in touch if you have any questions/concerns about practices in your school during the outbreak – we are only able to tackle issues when we are made aware of them.

We are also conscious that we unfortunately do not have reps in several Sunderland schools – having reps in schools will be very important in making sure our members are kept safe during the coming weeks so if you think you could help out please contact robbie.faulds@neu.org.uk

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