LEICESTERSHIRE NUT

 LATEST NEWS....LATEST NEWS....LATEST NEWS....

 

 

PENSION CAMPAIGN CONTINUES – NO NATIONAL STRIKE ACTION ON 28 MARCH

 

The NUT National Executive met today and decided that the campaign will continue but that there would be no national strike action on 28 March. 

The outcome of the Union’s recent survey produced an overwhelming endorsement of the Executive’s decision to reject the Government’s pension proposals; 95 per cent of members said that they agree with the rejection of the offer; 73 per cent of those voting indicated a willingness to participate in further strike action.

But from some of the feedback we have received, members would be more willing to support action if we could persuade other classroom teacher unions, particularly the NASUWT, to participate.

The Executive has therefore resolved to continue all efforts to seek to involve other classroom teacher unions in the ongoing teacher pension campaign.

 

 

YOUR FIRST PAY CUT DUE TO GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS ON RAISING TEACHER PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS - APRIL 2012

 

This Powerpoint includes information about the Government's latest pension proposals and the plans to combine Performance Management and Capability into one process. It is designed to be used in school NUT groups.

 

The intention to combine Performance Management and Capability Procedures represents a real attack on the profession. Read the NUT Briefing about this here.

 

Leicestershire NUT, along with other education unions, will be negotiating with the LA to maintain the provisions of the current system.

 

Pension Increase 2012

There will be a 5.2 per cent increase in teachers’ pensions from 9 April 2012 with a proportionate increase for teachers who retired part-way through the year.

This 5.2 increase is linked to CPI inflation rather than the 5.6 per cent had the RPI link been maintained.

What Are The Government's Latest Pension Proposals

The Government's latest proposals for the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) are contained in a document called the "TPS heads of agreement". You can see that on the NUT website here together with an NUT briefing on the proposals.

The NUT, in common with NASUWT, UCU and UCAC, has not "signed up" to the document. These four unions cover around 80% of members of the TPS. Four unions - ATL, ASCL, NAHT and Voice - have "signed up" to the document although even that is subject to the views of their members.

Why Hasn't The NUT Signed Up?

The NUT hasn't signed up because the heads of agreement require teachers to

• work to 68 to get a full pension
• pay an average of 50% more for their pension and
• have their pension indexed by CPI instead of RPI (cutting the value of their pension by around 15%)

Hasn't The Government Made Concessions?

As a result of our strike (together with ATL, PCS and UCU) on 30th June, and with the threat of wider action in November, the Government made concessions on 2nd November, offering

• an 8% improvement in the Government's proposed "cost ceiling" - the amount of money it is willing to see spent on teachers' pensions; and
• some protection to those within 10 years of retirement, and some lower and tapered protection for those between 10 and 13.5 years of retirement.

The NUT was pleased that the Government had recognised the need to make concessions. However, as we pointed out then, every member would still be thousands of pounds out of pocket from higher contributions and CPI indexation; and the 75% of NUT members not covered by protection would still have to work longer to get a full pension.

But Didn't The Government Make Further Concessions Just Before Christmas? 

No. The Government simply proposed some different ways of using the money available for teachers' pensions. Crucially, the "cost ceiling" remained the same as on 2nd November - no more money has been found to solve the dispute.

The accrual rate (the amount of pension earned each year) has been improved marginally to 1/57 of pay and the reduction in pension for those retiring earlier than the normal pension age has been cut slightly. This was accompanied, however, by changes in the way your new "career average pension" is calculated - the pension you earn will no longer be indexed to earnings until you retire. This change finances the improvements made.

Another negative change between 2nd November and Christmas was that the Chancellor brought forward by 10 years the date for pension ages rising to 67. This just illustrates how, in the proposed new scheme, you will never be able to be certain what your retirement age is.

How Will These Changes Affect Me Personally?

To see how much the new pension proposals will cost you, check out the revised NUT pension calculator here.

Can We Still Stop These Changes?

The changes to pension ages aren't scheduled to start until 2015 and we intend to use every moment to convince politicians and the general public that they are unfair. Teachers can't work to 68. The Government still hasn't carried out a valuation of the TPS, so there is no evidence that higher contributions are needed. In any case, your increased contributions will go to the Treasury not to teachers' pensions. The change for RPI to CPI is all about saving Government money, not about a fairer means of managing pension increases.

The NUT is determined to carry on the campaign to stop these changes to our pensions. With your continued support we can still win.

 

LEICESTERSHIRE NUT SUPPLY BRIEFING

A successful event took place on Monday 9 January at the Peepul Centre in Leicester. Attended by a number of Supply members, the event discussed some key issues and provided an update on some important developments, including the recent Agency Working Regulations.

Leicestershire NUT is the only teacher organisation to organise this kind of local event for Supply members, with this being the third such event. 

Further information for supply members will be posted this term, but supply members should certainly check out the national website for details of a Behaviour Management course being organised in Nottingham in April.

 

LEICESTERSHIRE NUT GENERAL MEETING

Following the advance notice provided to members at the end of last term, a General Meeting was held at the Field Head Hotel in Markfield on 10 January.

As well as discussing academy issues and the continuing pension campaign, the meeting voted to prioritise the following mations for debate at the Easter Annual Conference:

Motion 1 Health & Safety

Motion 9 Supply Teachers

Motion 20 Local Authority Support Services

Motion 33 NUT 'Vision for Education'

Motion 65 Representing Members via a lay led union

Motion 72 Pensions

Motion 54 Racist Abuse & Discrimination

 

Conference Business Committee considers the results of this voting when it is deciding on the order of debate of motions at Conference.

The General Meeting also agreed to nominate Ian Leaver as our National Executive Member for the next period of office, and also agreed to nominate Greg Jones for a place on the NUT Health & Safety Working Group.

 

United first day of action – November 30

The NUT supports the call for a first day of industrial action on 30th November 2011. This follows a decision at the TUC for co-ordinated strike action against the cuts being proposed to public sector pensions.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers union, said;

"The Government has time and again refused to listen to the growing anger about proposed changes to public sector pensions. Despite there being no evidence to suggest that our pensions are unaffordable, the Government persists in stating that cuts need to be made.

"This is an unacceptable and shameful way of conducting negotiations. The NUT will be giving its full support to this TUC-led day of action on November 30. The Government has given us, and the other unions taking part, no other option."

 

30 JUNE STRIKE

The rally was certainly an event to remember. A big screen enabled everyone to see and hear the speakers, all of whom made interesting and valuable contributions, and the atmosphere was very positive. Your Secretary, Ian leaver from City NUT, Ken Wheatley from ATL, Tony Church from PCS, Deputy Mayor Rory Palmer, and Di Campbell from UCU all spoke effectively, as did Rich Wrigley a young teacher from Gateway College, and Becki Heagney from Youth Fight For Jobs.

The rally was also certainly helped by the contributions of local musicians - all of whom had links to the NUT, PCS or UCU. Thanks to Kenny Wilson, Grace Petrie, KGB, and The Splitters.

Only time will tell whether this strike will have been successful in terms of persuading the coalition that they should withdraw their attack on teacher pensions. But this rally, along with countless others across the country, sent a powerful message to the government.

The speeches can be watched by following this link.

Pictures of the rally can be found on this link.

NUT members should be congratulated for taking part in the strike action. This was not an easy decision to make for many colleagues, but we have to protect our pensions and make it clear how angry we are about these proposals.

The campaign continues. Make sure you write to your MP, and keep the letters flowing to the local media.

Check out the Pensions Special Leicestershire Teacher

CHECK OUT HOW YOU WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE PENSIONS PROPOSALS HERE

PENSIONS CAMPAIGN

As members will know, the NUT 2011 Annual Conference voted unanimously to support the campaign to oppose the attacks on teacher pensions. All Leicestershire delegates supported the Executive Priority Motion, and the motion saw members being balloted.The NUT has been heartened by the decision of ATL, UCU, NASUWT, PCS, UNISON and other public sector unions to also support action to oppose these attacks, and we hope others will also support taking a firm and robust stance against government plans to worsen public sector pensions. This is an issue which unites all teachers, and all public sector workers, and co-ordinated action is clearly the best way forward.

FURTHER DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE

 

ACADEMIES FOR ALL?

The NUT is opposed to any extension of the Academies programme and is very worried about the proposals to make it 'easier' for schools to become Academies. 'Easier' will mean little public consultation about whether a community school should become an Academy, and less opportunity to oppose those proposals. The decision about what happens to our schools will be with a very small group of people indeed, which is profoundly undemocratic. While this is being proposed in the name of'parental choice', where will the choice be when all schools are Academies?

The Academies programme represents a significant attack on state education, local authorities, national pay, terms and conditions for teachers, and is a sustained attack on the democratic accountability of schools.

Find out more on the Academies Page.

 

GENERAL ELECTION

General Election Results for Leicestershire are here

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Leicestershire NUT is the largest teachers' union in the County. We have more than 2700 members in primary, secondary and special schools across the County, as well as members employed centrally by the Authority and working as Supply teachers. We also recruit student teachers.

WHAT WE DO

Our job is to represent and protect the interests of NUT members in the County. We do this by being part of the biggest teachers' union in Europe, and by representing individual members when required. We also negotiate agreements and policies at County Hall with the Local Authority, and try to agree documents which reflect national and local NUT policies. We then support our Reps in Schools.

HOW WE DO IT

The day to day work of the union is the responsibility of the Secretary, along with a number of voluntary union officers drawn from the Committee. The Secretary has the lead role in negotiations with Local Authority Officers, and is sometimes supported by Committee members who can act as delegates on various consultative bodies.

The Committee meets monthly to decide policy, formulate responses and discuss issues.

Leicestershire NUT is also supported by an invaluable network of School Representatives and Correspondents, all busily acting on behalf of members. Leicestershire NUT functions well because of the work done by these Reps and correspondents in schools.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

There are many ways in which you can get involved in Leicestershire NUT.

• You're involved by looking at this website!
• Read The Leicestershire Teacher and other NUT material
• Talk to your School Rep and other members
• Attend school NUT meetings
• Attend a General Meeting - times and agendas published on this site
• Contact the Secretary and attend Committee meetings
• Become more involved, get training and support members as an Officer, Rep, Correspondent, webpage author or Organiser.

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