Press Release: Catering Staff to STRIKE at Altrincham College over redundancy and contract changes
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Catering Staff to STRIKE at Altrincham College over redundancy and contract changes
Catering staff at Altrincham College will take strike action on Thursday 3 September, Wednesday 9 September, Thursday 10 September, Tuesday 15 September, Wednesday 16 September and Thursday 17 September 2026 in response to plans to remove a catering assistant post and alter the contractual hours of the remaining catering assistants.
The dispute centres on a proposed catering restructure by Achieve and Learn Trust which would reduce the number of catering assistant posts from five to four while standardising the remaining posts at 27 hours per week. NEU members are concerned that the proposed changes would effectively expect fewer staff to cover the work left behind by the removed post, placing additional pressure on an already stretched team.
The NEU believes the Trust has not provided a sufficiently convincing or transparent justification for compulsory job loss and contractual change. The Trust has relied on general arguments about operational efficiency, reduced use of the POD service and the cancellation of planned expansion, but staff and their union have challenged whether the evidence shows a genuine, diminished need for catering work or simply a decision to redistribute work across fewer people.
This is taking place against the backdrop of planned capital spending to reconfigure the canteen servery during summer 2026. Catering staff are deeply frustrated that the school is prepared to fund physical changes to the catering area while simultaneously proposing to cut a member of the catering team and change the hours of those who remain.
NEU members do not take strike action lightly. However, they believe that catering staff should not be expected to pay the price for management decisions through job loss, reduced security and imposed changes to working hours. They are calling on the Trust to withdraw the threat of redundancy, protect existing contractual hours and engage in a genuinely evidence-based process that properly considers alternatives.
Statement from James Starnes, NEU Trafford Branch and District Secretary:
“This is a dreadful course of action by the Trust, at a school where around 30% of students are reported to be entitled to free school meals — a figure we expect to be much higher in practice following changes to eligibility. Catering staff are standing up for fair treatment, secure jobs and proper consultation, but they are also standing up for pupils who rely on hot, nutritionally balanced and allergen-safe meals prepared by a skilled in-house catering team. It is equally concerning that the Trust appears to be attempting to subvert lawful strike action by bringing in outside cold food catering in place of the proper meals normally prepared by these staff. The Trust has not made a persuasive case for cutting a post while changing the hours of those left behind, particularly when capital works are being planned to alter the servery.”
ENDS
Note to Editors:
· The National Education Union stands up for the future of education. It brings together the voices of half a million teachers, lecturers, support staff and leaders working in maintained and independent schools and colleges across the UK, to form the largest education union in Europe.
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Local contact details:
James Starnes, Branch & District Secretary of Trafford Branch – Email: james.starnes@neu.org.uk
National:
Press Office direct lines: 020 7782 1589 / 020 7380 4706
Out of hours: 07918 617466 / 07879 480061
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