Ei-iE

The NASUWT and the NUT, two of EI’s national affiliates in the UK, are taking joint action as part of their campaign to protect teachers and education. The educators’ unions are in dispute with the Government over teachers’ pay, pensions and working conditions. Tens of thousands of teachers in the North West of the UK are set to strike.

The NUT and NASUWT are asking the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, to:

-  Establish a series of meetings with them, chaired by Gove, to address the issues under dispute on pay, pensions and working conditions

- Suspend the implementation of the changes proposed to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, pending the outcome of these discussions

- Publish the valuation of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme conducted on the basis of the 2010 criteria and factors

NUT: Government attacks undermine the profession

“We seriously regret the disruption strike action in the North West of England will cause parents and pupils but, with the profession now under serious attack from the Government, we have to take a stand to protect education and teachers,” said Christine Blower, NUT General Secretary and President of EI’s European region, the European Trade union Committee for Education (ETUCE). “The North West will be taking the lead in sending a message to Michael Gove that teachers are not prepared to accept Government attacks on our pay, pensions and conditions.”

Not content with wanting teachers to get less pay and retire later, Michael Gove also wants to ‘liberalise’ teachers’ working conditions including the length of the working day,  hours, and teachers’ entitlements to non-contact time and cover, she deplored.

Blower added that teachers are angry about the impact these imposed changes are having on the morale of the teaching profession, the recruitment and retention of teachers, and on the provision of quality education for pupils.

“The NUT and the NASUWT are asking the Government to enter into genuine talks to resolve this dispute. The responsibility for today's action rests with the failure of the Secretary of State to engage in meaningful negotiations,” she said.

NASUWT: Gove’s actions driving teachers to strike

NASUWT General Secretary, Chris Keates, said that, over the last three years, the Coalition Government has mounted savage attacks on teachers’ pay, pension and conditions of service. “To justify these attacks and education reforms, the Secretary of State has sought to denigrate teachers and present our public education system as broken,” she said. “As a result, the teaching profession is now in crisis.”

She went on to comment that “no teacher embarks on strike action lightly. No teacher has any wish to inconvenience pupils or parents or disrupt the provision of education but a strong stand now must be made to protect the pay and conditions of service which make our schools world class.”

Keates further emphasised that a stand must be made to defend the jobs of specialist teachers which are being lost due to cuts and curriculum reform. Equally, this stance should ensure that all children are taught by qualified teachers, and resist excessive bureaucracy which is diverting teachers from their core role of focusing on teaching and learning.

She echoed Blower’s words, stressing that “the responsibility for driving teachers to take industrial action rests entirely with an arrogant, reckless Secretary of State who is determined to sacrifice teachers, pupils and our public education service on the altar of his own flawed ideology”.

Blower and Keates, together with NASUWT Deputy General Secretary and EI Executive Board member, Patrick Roach, and NUT Deputy General Secretary, Kevin Courtney, will be guest speakers at a series of rallies and marches in Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Chester.

ETUCE: Government must engage seriously with education unions

Meanwhile, the UK unions’ actions have been supported by ETUCE. “We  fully support  our UK colleagues in their struggle to ensure decent living and working conditions for educators and guarantee quality education in their country,” ETUCE Director Martin Rømer stated. “We urge the UK Secretary of State for Education to talk to the organisations representing teachers to resolve the dispute, and sorely regret that he has made no effort to hold serious discussions with both unions or cease his  attacks on teachers.”