The GMB, Britain's General Union, is the trade union for School Support Staff with over 77,000 members in education nationwide. The GMB delivers professional advice and representation for our members working in education. GMB's campaign for School Support Staff began here in the West Midlands back in March 2001. Since then, thousands of School Support Staff have joined us in our campaign. Classroom Assistants, Nursery Nurses, Special Educational Assistants, Secretaries, Bursars and Technicians; staff from across all roles within our schools have begun to unite to make a real difference in the way Support Staff are treated within the education service. Our campaign is based on fairness and equality within our schools. We want recognition of support staff’s professional status, fair pay and grading within a national framework, secure year-round employment, time off, with pay, for training which leads to nationally recognised qualifications, adequate funding and resources for our schools and last but not least, respect.

Significant progress is already being made as a result of our campaign. We have already held face to face meetings with Government ministers including the Secretary of State for Education on the issues faced by School Support Staff. These discussions were instrumental in securing the inclusion of Support Staff in the new national agreement “Time for Standards”. The GMB has also held numerous conferences and events around the West Midlands Region, focusing attention on our campaign. Politicians, DfES representatives, education chiefs and Support Staff have all attended these events and have helped to focus attention on the roles and responsibilities that you play within our schools.

However, there is still a lot of hard work and campaigning ahead of us. We would urge each and every one of you to join us in our campaign to ensure that the hidden professionals of the education service are finally recognised and rewarded.