BRITAIN’S largest education union vowed to continue to work “collegiately” with GMB, Unite and Unison as it announced it was withdrawing from a TUC agreement banning it from undertaking organising activity on behalf of school support staff.

A motion to withdraw from the 2017 agreement was passed nearly unanimously by members at the National Education Union (NEU) special conference on Saturday.

All four unions “should all have the right to organise together to ensure the best working conditions and pay for this sector,” said the NEU.

General secretary Daniel Kebede said the ban on the second-largest representative union of school support staff in England “has now become untenable.

“We need to show alongside the other support staff unions that unity delivers better pay and conditions for workers.

“So, it is with regret that delegates at our special conference were left with no choice but to withdraw from the agreement.”