After the Delfin English School in London sacked all of its staff just before Christmas, subsequently declaring itself bankrupt, Tefl teachers with the syndicalist IWW union organised a picketing and social media campaign which has now won its fight for proper redundancy terms.

The TEFL Workers’ Union, which represents staff at the school, said the process failed to meet required legal standards and organised a national day of protest targeting a language school chain which was providing Delfin’s teaching space. Protests were also directed towards a staffing agency which had begun hiring out replacement staff to the firm.

Delfin which failed to send anyone from its Dublin head office to negotiate, subsequently declared insolvency, the union says.

According TEFL Workers’ Union representative Anna Clark:

“The Delfin teachers fought a hard campaign and were lucky to be able to count on the support of the London EFL community and IWW branches around the UK. As a result, they secured an enhanced redundancy package — something that’s virtually unheard of in the language teaching industry.”

The union also managed to secure additional payment for a further two teachers who had left the school before formal redundancies were announced.

Teachers at Delfin joined the TEFL Workers’ Union in 2018, making it one of the few unionised language schools in London.  Over the course of the following year-and-half teachers won significant contract improvements including paid sick days, paid meetings and trainings, and the removal of unlawful clauses in their contracts.

IWW story here