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Teachers can legally refuse to return when schools reopen, unless they get the same protections against coronavirus as other front-line staff, warned one of the UK’s leading teaching unions.
In a letter to local authorities seen by The Guardian, the NASUWT of 300,000 people threatens to invoke legal action to defend teachers against returning to schools on June 1 because of the risk to their health.
The union letter marks a significant tightening against the government’s push to reopen primary schools in England starting June 1. It occurs when a chain of academies says that their goal is to invite students to return to that date.
Signed by NASUWT Secretary General Patrick Roach, the union letter threatens to delay that start date by forcing the government and local authorities to consider their legal obligations.
The union says it has “fundamental concerns” about the guidance issued by the government this week, saying it was inconsistent with the guidance provided to other workplaces, including nursing homes and the NHS.
“Strict guidelines have been issued for the NHS, for nursing homes and for employers across the UK. It is unacceptable that this has not been the case for schools, ”he says.
“NASUWT believes that teachers and other school personnel have a right to the same consideration and protection, and to be assured that their health and well-being, as well as that of the students, is at the center of any planning for a wider opening. “
The union said it had to warn local authorities as employers, and the government, that they were risking legal action for “breach of duty of care and personal injury due to foreseeable risk, and any other available legal remedy” if efforts were made to compel teachers in classrooms during the epidemic.
“The NASUWT recognizes that schools and employers have been placed in a situation where the wrong decision will result in people becoming seriously ill and dying, and will therefore appreciate that health and safety cannot be compromised.
“If this means that schools cannot safely open before September, because they cannot make arrangements to protect their staff and students, then that position must be accepted,” said Roach.
