A Report from the UK IWW's TEFL Workers' Union
The UK IWW's Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Workers' Union is building power among usually isolated educators. We republish these updates about recent organizing victories and protests.
With rising mass migration from the Global South, the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) sector of the UK has become big business, all built on the backs of isolated and exploited teachers. The UK IWW’s TEFL Workers’ Union, founded in 2020, is helping these educators unite to take the fight to their employers. Their innovative approach is worth following closely and learning from.
Winning for online teachers
This summer has seen the TEFL Workers' Union fight and win for our members. This includes concrete, contractual issues and wider political issues of free speech and political expression in the workplace.
Online teachers have rights - and don't let schools forget that!
We won for a member who's employed by one of the big chain schools (trust us, you know who they are) as an online teacher. This school thought they could get away with disciplining this worker without going through any formal procedures. Not on our watch! Not only did we get two warnings taken off this worker's record, we got her a permanent contract in the process!
EF thought they could stop free speech in Brighton.
One of our members at Brighton EF was told that she couldn't wear a Palestine solidarity badge at work. We attempted to rectify this through the proper internal procedures. But when EF wouldn't do the right thing. it meant we had to get out in the street and make some noise! We held a short lunchtime protest in front of EF Brighton, handing out leaflets to students and chatting with members of staff. Let this be a lesson to all language schools: The IWW takes the right to the free expression of our members very seriously. You best do the same.
Thanks to #ELT4Palestine for helping out with this one!
Update on our whistleblowing case against the British Council
We've been in a long-running dispute with the British Council. Part of that dispute has been an employment tribunal. Amazingly, neither the British Council nor their outsourcing company Impellam had the decency (or common sense) to deal with the tribunal office. This means that the worker in the dispute has been provisionally awarded a default judgement and could see tens of thousands of pounds in restitution!
Organising continues!
As always, we have non-public organising happening at a number of schools around London. In one case, this involves linking up internationally to facilitate a unionisation campaign. In another case, teachers have been fighting back against non-payment of wages, contract dodginess, and financial mismanagement. This one may go public soon, so watch this space!
London pay and conditions map now live!
As part of our mission to ensure our members are fully informed not only of their rights but the state of the industry.
To this end, we've created a map of pay and conditions at schools across London.
But, as great as that map is, we need even more information. If you haven't submitted details for your school, take ten minutes to let us know what it's like to work there. Even better: sit down with your workmates and do it as a group!
Below an online teacher at one of the big chain schools (trust us, you’ve heard of them) writes about the importance of being in the union.
I wanted to say a big thank you to the TEFL Workers’ Union for supporting me with an issue that I experienced at one of the big chain schools. I have been teaching English online for over 4 years but this year has been a challenging time dealing with family issues and juggling multiple responsibilities.
Due to a series of events, I was given two warnings about my work performance even though I kept management updated about my personal situation. The warnings were issued within a very short space of time and I was surprised and disappointed that the correct process on disciplinary and grievance procedures as written by ACAS guidelines was not followed.
I contacted the TEFL union in July and spoke with a union representative who was knowledgeable about the process and he immediately asked me to send over the information so he could proceed with the case.
My rep was in regular contact with me over the next few weeks and answered all my questions. It was an emotional time for me and I felt disappointed that I was going through this experience. However, I never felt alone in dealing with these issues and I’m so grateful to my rep as he was undersanding and this gave me the confidence to continue with the HR meeting and argue agains the written warnings.
On the day of the HR meeting, my rep fought hard to win the case. He was well prepared and explained the facts to HR and all the points were covered.
He made the process easy to deal with from the start as he had a lot of compassion and consideration for others and he knows hot ot make anyone feel comfortable in his presence. It was a successful outcome as we achieved the results we wanted; the warnings were removed and a permanent contract issued.
I didn’t know a union for online teachers existed, but I am so grateful I found their website after doing some research. In my experience and in my opinion I highly recommend the TEFL Workers’ Union as there are so many positive reasons to join!
For me, the main reasons are the support and advice for problems at work and you immediately feel like a part of a community of people that is ready to protect your rights at work.
If you are working as an online teacher it can sometimes feel like you are alone and no one cares if you are experiencing issues with work.
However, you are never alone as there are a group of great people in the union who are passionate about helping others and you can reach out to them if you have questions or experience issues at work.
Once again I want to say a big thank you to the union from the bottom of my heart for helping to turn a negative situation into a positive experience. It is these small victories that can make it possible to continue doing what we love and for TEFL to be a rewarding career.
The move towards increased online teaching has, for too many of us, seen an increase in precarious, insecure work. But, by sticking together and standing up for our rights we can hold online schools to account. If you want to make your online teaching job better, it’s tefl@iww.org.uk
We got your back!
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I love this! My short experience as an online TEFL teacher was that it was a very precarious position. I had to open my schedule in the middle of the night and often had only one or two students for 30 minute slots each night. The pay per hour wasn't bad, but they put all the responsibility on the teacher to compete with all the other teachers on the platform for students, and often meant prep time outside of paid teaching time. The closest comparison I can think of is Uber - including the fact that you're responsible for your laptop, internet, home office, supplies, etc. Gig workers of all types need unions!
And that solidarity can bring big benefits. I just read about unionized Uber drivers in Kenya who have their own price sheet in their Ubers because of rising gas prices and the large cut that Uber takes - https://restofworld.org/2024/kenya-uber-rate-cards-fuel-prices/?ref=disconnect.blog