Unison members struck last month (Pic: chris.willars on Facebook)
Workers at a school in Leicester are demanding the reinstatement of their union rep, who was suspended after a successful strike ballot.
Unison union members at Ash Field Academy, a special educational needs and disabilities (Send) school in Evington, are planning to strike again on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
Tom Barker is a teaching assistant and Unison steward at Ash Field Academy, a school operated by Discovery Schools Academies Trust (DSAT). He was suspended in October 2025 after workers voted for strikes.
He spoke to Socialist Worker about his longstanding trade union work at Ash Field in the run up to his suspension.
“We are a well-organised workplace and union members generally are very active,” said Tom. “We had a big dispute win in 2023 over pay.”
Union members secured pay increases of between 18 and 25 percent for classroom workers after 43 days of strikes that year. This was one of the most successful education disputes in Unison’s history. Tom was a principal organiser of that eight month long dispute.
“The school joined DSAT, a multi-academy trust. In 2024, it started cutting staff by not replacing people when they left. We had lots of meetings about workloads and staffing because people really couldn’t cope.”
“During the 2024-5 academic year we raised concerns relating to health and safety. When DSAT deleted posts and began a rushed redundancy process, members voted to strike.
“We said we are already understaffed and struggling. It was not until we won a strike ballot last year that the Trust agreed to reverse this decision.”
Only days later, the leadership suspended Tom from his duties, on unspecified allegations.
After almost six months of suspension, DSAT has still not presented any evidence of wrongdoing.
But workers are determined to fight for his reinstatement. In a March strike ballot, 87 percent of participants voted for action against this attack on their rights. They have already walked out for one day in April.
The reinstatement campaign, led by Unison Leicester City, has received widespread support, including from the union’s general secretary Andrea Egan.
Tom said, “The support has been great. The union is now ploughing ahead with a public campaign. The branch at the school is doing all the right things and the Unison regional office is playing a positive role.”
If DSAT bosses are allowed to get away with this, it will weaken the whole union.
A staffing crisis in the NHS
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
