Last April was a great success. Leicestershire NUT and City NUT had a terrific joint rally at the Athena Centre in Leicester. There were speeches, music and a very funny routine from Mark Steel. Everybody had a great time.
And events like this took place all over the country.
Media coverage was mixed. Some was favourable, and some was more critical. Only to be expected.
The strike was followed by a Lobby of Parliament in early June, and some Leicestershire MPs signed Early Day Motion 742, which stated that
This House applauds the work done by public sector workers; in particular recognises the vital role that teachers play in the lives of millions of young people; believes that those working in the public sector should receive a real terms pay increase; further believes that the retail price index, which is currently 4 per cent., should be used as a reference point for setting public sector pay rather than the consumer price index; recognises that the teachers' pay settlement of 2.45 per cent. this year will in effect mean a pay reduction; and calls on the Government not to return to the days of boom and bust in teachers' and public sector pay with the consequential problems that this causes in relation to recruitment and retention and the maintenance of morale.
But its certainly the case that the enthusiasm and momentum associated with this phase of the campaign was allowed to fade and dissipate.
This was a mistake, and we now have to redouble our efforts in the light of the Executive's decision to relaunch the campaign with a further ballot, the date of which has to be fixed yet but which will probably be in October.
Leicestershire NUT will be mailing all members with further information about the kind of activities which members can undertake in order to support the campaign, and this page contains some ideas to help.
WHO DECIDES YOUR PAY?
Your pay should be decided by negotiations between teacher unions and your employers, local authorities. But its not, of course.
The principle of free collective bargaining has been abolished for teachers in this country. We do not negotiate our pay. This denial of a fundamental right guaranteed under a variety of international agreements is a travesty, and firmly places the UK in a group of very unsavoury countries indeed.
As far back as 1949, the UK signed ILO Convention 98, Article 4 of which stated that
"Measures appropriate to national conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to encourage and promote the full development and utilisation of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers or employers' organisations and workers' organisations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements."
This commitment is currently denied to teachers and other groups of public sector workers in the UK. Shameful.
Rather than collective agreements decided through voluntary negotiation, the UK has the profoundly undemocratic STRB.
The School Teachers' Review Body consists of the following members:
Dr Anne Wright, CBE
Jennifer Board
Monojit Chaterji
Dewi Jones
Elizabeth Kidd
Esmond Lindop
Bruce Warman
Anne Watts, CBE
If you've never heard of these people, that's not surprising. The list above is from The Office of Manpower Economics, a non-statutory body which provides a secretariat for the six pay review bodies established for public sector workers.
The Chair of the STRB is appointed by the Prime Minister, and other members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Education (the body is supposed to be independent of Government!!!). The Chair gets £350 per day, while other members pull in £300 per day. Clearly, not having free collective bargaining with our employers comes at a price!
You can read about these people here.
FAIR PAY FOR TEACHERS
The NUT Executive voted unanimously on Friday 5 September to hold a ballot of members "to seek their views on further strike action in opposition to the government's pay policy".
The ballot will begin on 6 October
The NUT says the government must stop the "spiral of decline" in teachers' pay.
The Government imposed three year pay deal is worth 2.45% for the first year and 2.3% for the next two years.
A one-day strike by our members in April affected about a third of schools in England and Wales.
Christine Blower, the Acting General Secretary, said
"The Secretary of State must act to halt the spiral of decline in teachers' pay. Teachers and other public sector worker unions cannot and will not stand by and see their members' incomes and standards of living cut,"
"This is a campaign that becomes more relevant with each passing month. With food prices up 40%, utilities up over 30%, along with general inflation now running at 5%, teachers, particularly young teachers, are suffering.
"Refusing teachers a decent salary will have a direct impact on children and young people's education. Recruitment has already taken a dive as graduates choose better paid and less stressful careers. A recent survey showed teachers are working ever longer hours; more work for decreasing pay."
Our strike this year was the biggest for 21 years - and the union is committed to continuing our campaign.
Our Executive member, Jane Rudon, supports the decision, as do your local officers.
Leicestershire Secretary, Andy Reeve, commented that
“We have to make it clear to everyone that this issue is not going to go away. We have to pay bills too; we have families of our own, and we will not accept another round of pay cuts. Cutting anyone’s pay is unacceptable, and we will not let our families suffer further. All those involved in education and teaching children should recognise the justice of our case. Other public sector unions, teaching and non-teaching, should be pressuring their leaders to take joint action: we are all in this together, and we all benefit from each other’s victories.”
We should not be frightened of persuading people that our case for higher pay is just and reasonable. Are pay cuts fair? Would other people quietly accept three more years of pay cuts? This is the alternative. We either stand up and be counted, and be proud of what we do, or we hide our heads and meekly accept that we and our families must suffer for at least three more years.
We are not asking to be treated differently. The NUT will support other groups of workers fighting for decent pay and conditions. We just want to be treated fairly and decently ourselves. Increasing our pay does not mean that others suffer! Inflation is spiralling and we have to protect ourselves and our families. There is no alternative.
Leicestershire NUT members will be receiving further communications and information about the campaign and ballot over the next few weeks.
THE SECRETARY'S LETTER TO LEICESTERSHIRE MEMBERS
WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?
However, if we do nothing until the ballot, then we are letting ourselves and our families down. And we will not be helping our case.
It is important that other activities take place in the lead-up to the ballot, so that we can all feel as though we are not just sitting back expecting the ballot to change the government’s mind on its own. We all have an obligation on this. There was a great enthusiasm developed in April, and we must try to recapture that positive feeling
Here are some actions NUT members can take.
- Make sure that everyone at your school, NUT members and non-members, has signed the FAIR PAY FOR TEACHERS petition
- Write letters to your local newspaper. Don’t allow letters or articles which criticise teachers be unanswered!
- Hold an NUT meeting to get everyone to sign postcards to send to local MPs
- Write an NUT letter to the Chair of Governors asking them to support the FAIR PAY FOR TEACHERS campaign.
- Ask non-NUT members to support the campaign by writing letters and attending a joint meeting on the issue.
- Ask the Head to support the campaign by signing the petition and letters, and by allowing leaflets to be distributed to parents.
- Make sure publicity material is prominently displayed in the staff room.
These may not be as newsworthy as strikes, but they all help to get our case across to those that matter and whose support we need.