{"id":150363,"date":"2022-08-09T10:03:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T09:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=150363"},"modified":"2022-09-23T17:12:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T16:12:13","slug":"aqa-staff-to-strike-on-a-level-results-day-unison-confirms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/aqa-staff-to-strike-on-a-level-results-day-unison-confirms\/","title":{"rendered":"AQA staff to strike on A-level and GCSE results days, Unison confirms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staff at exam board AQA<\/a> are planning to strike over pay on A-level and GCSE results days, as schools minister Will Quince hits out at “scaremongering” from their union over disruption claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 180 workers, including results managers, heads of curriculum and customers service staff, will stage a five-day walkout from August 17 to 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union has suggested that “thousands” of teenagers trying to contact AQA on A-level results day, Thursday August 18, could face difficulties getting through as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the exam board has again rebutted disruption claims, emphasising that results would not be delayed and that “robust contingency plans” were in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It marks the third walkout in the pay dispute, with 79 staff taking part in industrial action last month<\/a> and another strike planned for August 12 to 15<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Unison confirmed a fourth round of strike action from August 24 to 28. GCSE results day is on August 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Unison said striking is the “last thing” staff want to do, it added that employees had been left with “no alternative” after the exam board refused to budge beyond a pay offer below current inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Staff on strike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unison and Unite have rejected a 3 per cent pay increase<\/a> plus a £500 payment for staff, claiming the charity is “failing its staff and pupils by holding down pay”. AQA says the average pay increase works out at 5.6 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current UK rate of inflation is 9.4 per cent. Last week, the Bank of England<\/a> said inflation could hit 13 per cent by the autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unison’s North West regional manager Vicky Knight said the “results ‘machine'” could not “work effectively” without its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We understand that there may be an impact on results day, particularly around student queries, administrative errors, customer service enquiries etc,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Employees at AQA are disappointed the company will neither talk to them nor come back with a realistic pay offer. This leaves staff with no choice but to escalate their action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Disrupting A-level results day is not a decision anyone has taken lightly. However, AQA staff have been treated appallingly and only bold action will get their employer to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“AQA must come with a serious offer to prevent any further disruption.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But AQA has repeatedly set out to reassure students that results day would not be impacted by strikes, including by pointing out that those taking part make up a small proportion of its workforce. The exam board has around 1,200 staff in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson added: “We’re dismayed that Unison has chosen to deliberately target students like this, but it won’t stop us from delivering the exam results our learners so richly deserve or supporting everyone afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have robust contingency plans in place to ensure that industrial action has no effect on results, and we successfully tested these plans during the previous industrial action in July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our records show that only 4% of our total workforce took part in that industrial action – and the remaining 96% are absolutely committed to never letting our learners down.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools minister Will Quince has also criticised the union for “scaremongering”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think young people have enough to worry about and be concerned about, ahead of examination results anyway,” he told the PA news agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To add this into the mix as a potential worry about whether their papers will be marked and their results will come through on time is totally unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve had assurance that they won’t have any impact but unfortunately scaremongering of this sort of nature by unions is deeply regrettable.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But union claims of results disruption branded ‘scaremongering’ by schools minister<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311182,"featured_media":109894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[73,149,2835,1689],"post-theme":[2345],"class_list":["post-150363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-a-level","tag-aqa","tag-aqa-strike","tag-results","post-theme-assessment"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t