Executive pulls back from October strike

On Friday the NUT Executive met for the first time since the beginning of the new term. Ordinarily this meeting is specifically to discuss the upcoming TUC conference and the Executives recommendations on the various motions. This was discussed but the main debate was on the on-going Stand Up For Education Campaign and weather the NUT should join Unison, GMB, Unite and others taking strike action on the 14^th October.

October 14^th Public Sector Strike

The Executive voted 26 – 12 not to join this strike. I was one of the 12 that voted for action.

I believe this was the correct way to vote as we would be striking alongside support staff in schools, (this time including academies) council workers and very possibly NHS staff and the Civil Service. This would be a very large coalition and one that would be strengthened by the inclusion of teachers. Perhaps even more importantly I believe our own campaign is weakened by not taking this action. We will be going into talks with Nicky Morgan having pulled back from joint action and this will weaken the union’s hand in negotiations.

Arguments against taking action centred on the need to suspend strikes while our consultation with members is underway (this is due to take place over the next months), that members resolve is weakening and that the other unions could not be relied upon to actually strike on the 14^th. While it is vital to get a good result for continuing the campaign in the consultation, even more so after this vote, I do not believe that takes precedence over exerting maximum pressure on the government to get significant concessions. I also believe the risk of other unions pulling out of the 14^th is slight and should this happen the Executive could have met at short notice to reassess. Having been at the Brighton rally during the July strike I am confident we could deliver an effective day in October. I am aware not all areas had the same support from members but October is a better time for teachers to take strike action than July and we would have had even more allies in the public sector to lift morale.

The Campaign will continue

The NUT will now be consulting members on taking two more days of strike action before the general election in May. I feel a stronger calendar than this is needed if we are to force the government back before the election. However it remains vital we work to get the best response possible in favour of continuing the campaign. The union has also produced 1.6million copies of its education manifesto. This document outlines the policies the NUT believes should be implemented in education and will be an important campaigning tool. I previously raised a concern after seeing a draft that the manifesto needed to include a reference to our supply teachers campaign. I am pleased the say the final document has included the demand that the pension scheme is opened up to supply teachers.

Huge Turnout on July 10th Strike

Thank you to all members who took strike action

The NUT joining unions across the public sector yesterday had a fantastic response to the strike call. With around 100 schools in East Sussex fully closed and many more only partially staying open we had a massive impact. We were talking to the media all day and getting the message out that teachers deserve better than 60 hour weeks until we are 68 while having our pay system broken to pieces.

Recent polls show over 50% of the public trust trade union views on the state of the public sector, while only 23% believe the government.  

The Police estimate 3000 people (pictures below) took to the streets of Brighton in the strike demonstrations with members also joining events in Hastings and along the south coast.

I hope you will be proud that again you have stood up for not only your own working conditions but also the future of our profession.

Finally if the government want to attack our right to strike with minimum turnouts then they should remember that our mandate to ask members to strike has lasted 2 years and was 92% Yes on a 40% turnout (37%) whereas David Cameron has a been operating for 4 years on a 36% vote on a 65% turnout (23%).

NUT Executive Update - First Executive Meeting

My first NUT Executive meeting took place just before half term and as has been announced by the union nationally the upcoming strike as part of the ongoing national campaign is now to be on the 10^th of July. This will bring us into line with support staff unions who are expected to join us on strike on the same day as they take action after rejecting the 1% pay offer from the government.

It is a real positive that we will in all likelihood be joined by Unison and GMB colleagues and this will only increase pressure on Michael Gove to enter into genuine talks to resolve our dispute.

As I have argued however to get substantial concessions we will have to increase the pressure and I was pleased that the survey of members that is to take place before any action in the autumn will now be before we break up for the summer. We will be looking over this survey at the next meeting and I will be push for it to include clear options for a calendar of action rather than isolated days so we can ramp up the pressure on the government and get the dispute resolved.

The Executive also had a section devoted to the Blunkett Review which is likely to form the basis for the Labour Party’s education manifesto. It is unfortunately a document that takes the marketisation of education as inevitable and would see the further reduction in the roles of LEA as employers of teachers. This for me emphasises the need for the union to be taking strong action as we cannot reply on any party to make positive changes for teachers come the general election.

General Secretary Election

This week ballot papers will be going out to members to elect a General Secretary for the NUT. Christine Blower is being challenged by Martin Powell-Davies. I am supporting Martin as I belive he has consistently put forward a clear message that our dispute need clarity in our demands and clarity on our industrial action strategy. Martin has an extensive blog here with more details: http://electmartin1.blogspot.co.uk/

Conference 2014

Over this weekend the NUT has had its annual conference, this time taking place in my home town of Brighton.

I cannot in a short report do justice to the diversity and quality of motions, speeches and debates that have taken place but I will highlight a few of the issues that were discussed.

In my opinion the key debate of the weekend was over a priority motion put forward by the Executive on the current ongoing industrial action campaign. While rightly highlighting the need to continue that campaign because as we know the attacks on teachers’ pensions, pay and working conditions still drive our colleagues out of the profession, I along with many others did not believe it was sufficient.  

An amendment to this motion was put together by the Local Associations for National Action Campaign and proposed by General Secretary Candidate Martin Powell-Davies.

It attempted to get the union to commit to a very clear set of demands for our campaign – end performance related pay, £2000 pay rise for all teacher scales and a reduction in teacher workload. Alongside this the union was to be committed to a clear plan of industrial action in the autumn so the Government would realise that they will have to talk and grant concessions to avoid the disruption. Unfortunately this amendment wasn’t passed – around 2/3 against to 1/3 for but it was clear that a large number of delegates think this clarity is important in motivating members to take further strike action in the current dispute.

The NUT is however still clear that the campaign will continue and that industrial action is likely in late June. This may move to early July to co-inside with possible industrial action by school support staff, NHS workers, council workers and more over the pay freeze. We also agreed to continue the successful Stand Up for Education campaign which reaches out to parents and the public to explain why the privatisation and de-professionalisation of education will damage the life chances of children in the long term.

An important debate and fringe meeting also took place on how we achieve one union for all teachers. It certainly seems to me that voices in the union arguing against this necessary step are growing weaker and votes overwhelming in favour of unity went through. While the NASUWT leadership appear to want to continue to distance themselves of the possibility of merging the situation seems more favourable with the ATL and I hope I will be able to help support Professional Unity to create a strong combative union.

A great speech was made by a delegate from my own Lewes Association on supply teachers and how these members of the teacher profession were the first to be privatised and subject to a race to the bottom in terms and conditions. She described how pay has fallen well below £100 a day for many experienced teachers who can also not access, sick pay, holiday pay or the pension scheme. The union has taken up more campaigning on supply teacher recently but more needs to be done to work on behalf of these members suffering the sharp end of the market.

I can’t hope to do justice to the contributions on so many subjects, early years education, Palestine, OFSTED, child poverty and many more. I will finish by commending the delegate moving the motion on Transgender rights who powerfully explained not only how discriminated against many trans-people are but also how we can work to improve this. I am pleased to say the motion received massive support from delegates when it was passed. 

Thank you for electing me

First of all I would like to thank the NUT members in Brighton, East Sussex, Kent and Medway for electing me to the NUT National Executive.

I would also like to thank Dave Brinson for the work he has done as executive member before me. While we may not always see eye to eye politically I fully recognise his dedication to trade unionism in general and NUT members in particular.

I will be hoping to record my views on what is happening on the NUT executive on this blog and keep members up to date on the decisions it makes.

It is a difficult time to be a teacher with privatisation, ‘performance’ related pay, out of control workload and a government that would rather attack teachers than work with them.

I stood on a very clear platform that our current industrial dispute needs to be stepped up to put more pressure on the government. Widely spaced individual strikes while showing teachers’ anger do not put sufficient pressure on the government.  

My first substantive posts will be on the decisions taken at conference this coming weekend and how much support has been achieved for an escalating plan of industrial action and clear demands on what we are aiming to achieve through strikes.