What a missed opportunity !
In Central Hall Westminster at the April 24th strike rally in front of two thousand teachers, with many more thousands locked outside, wild cheering and applause greeted any platform speaker even hinting at further joint action.
It seemed that the NUT was on a roll. After years of trying, the Left on the NUT National Executive apparently had won a small majority in the elections. Also by a quirk of fate a left general secretary took the helm, joining an already established left treasurer. We then got the news that UNISON were going to ballot, and others were lining up to join those that had already shown willing.
At the same time discontent is being fuelled by more rising prices. Our case is strengthened daily. And to cap it all the government has come under real pressure. With the massacre in the local elections, now Nantwich & Crewe, and Gordon Brown's poll ratings at absolute rock bottom what a chance to extract another u-turn on public sector pay to add to the 10p tax fiasco.
Trade unions rarely get a favourable combination of circumstances to pursue a strike. It is never the right moment. But given some other situations this was a golden opportunity. Incredibly some, or rather quite a few, including those calling themselves Left, have voted against calling action now. They have let teachers down. They have let the government off the hook. They have quite possibly caused a negative impact on the rank and file of other unions.
We recognise that there might be complicating factors, but the overriding factor here was a chance for the coordinated action that the whole of the trade union movement has been campaigning on for such a long time. Shame on those who have shown such a lack of judgment that they voted against a strike in July.
Leadership is all about judgment. Of course we all want the same thing in the end, but timing is everything in politics. Now it seems we have a situation where some 'on the left' have joined with others on the right with similar 'honestly held views' to effectively kick our pay battle into the long grass for now.
Experience in the Left Caucus on the National Executive has shown me that there are some whose views are barely 'Left' at all. There are others on the Left like myself, Martin Powell Davies and others especially in the Socialist Party, who faced a somewhat different, quite unsympathetic reaction to our 'honestly held views'. Martin stood for General Secretary because we reckoned that the views of the candidate backed by others on the Left would fall short. Were we right? As an Executive member I spoke out against some of the methods of many in the Left Caucus who believed that those in the then majority of the Executive really wanted the same thing as us and would see the error of their lackadaisical ways and be won over by our more energetic campaigning.
Unfortunately, the result of this vote could demobilise teachers. It certainly gives the government time to re-group. It may well be that the relentless pressure of events can bring action to the fore again. I certainly hope so. The Div. Secs on June 17th might have much to say. Hopefully Divisonal Secretaries who wanted to see united action in July will not go shy in taking up the arguments of those on the left as well as those on the right.
Linda Taaffe
It seemed that the NUT was on a roll. After years of trying, the Left on the NUT National Executive apparently had won a small majority in the elections. Also by a quirk of fate a left general secretary took the helm, joining an already established left treasurer. We then got the news that UNISON were going to ballot, and others were lining up to join those that had already shown willing.
At the same time discontent is being fuelled by more rising prices. Our case is strengthened daily. And to cap it all the government has come under real pressure. With the massacre in the local elections, now Nantwich & Crewe, and Gordon Brown's poll ratings at absolute rock bottom what a chance to extract another u-turn on public sector pay to add to the 10p tax fiasco.
Trade unions rarely get a favourable combination of circumstances to pursue a strike. It is never the right moment. But given some other situations this was a golden opportunity. Incredibly some, or rather quite a few, including those calling themselves Left, have voted against calling action now. They have let teachers down. They have let the government off the hook. They have quite possibly caused a negative impact on the rank and file of other unions.
We recognise that there might be complicating factors, but the overriding factor here was a chance for the coordinated action that the whole of the trade union movement has been campaigning on for such a long time. Shame on those who have shown such a lack of judgment that they voted against a strike in July.
Leadership is all about judgment. Of course we all want the same thing in the end, but timing is everything in politics. Now it seems we have a situation where some 'on the left' have joined with others on the right with similar 'honestly held views' to effectively kick our pay battle into the long grass for now.
Experience in the Left Caucus on the National Executive has shown me that there are some whose views are barely 'Left' at all. There are others on the Left like myself, Martin Powell Davies and others especially in the Socialist Party, who faced a somewhat different, quite unsympathetic reaction to our 'honestly held views'. Martin stood for General Secretary because we reckoned that the views of the candidate backed by others on the Left would fall short. Were we right? As an Executive member I spoke out against some of the methods of many in the Left Caucus who believed that those in the then majority of the Executive really wanted the same thing as us and would see the error of their lackadaisical ways and be won over by our more energetic campaigning.
Unfortunately, the result of this vote could demobilise teachers. It certainly gives the government time to re-group. It may well be that the relentless pressure of events can bring action to the fore again. I certainly hope so. The Div. Secs on June 17th might have much to say. Hopefully Divisonal Secretaries who wanted to see united action in July will not go shy in taking up the arguments of those on the left as well as those on the right.
Linda Taaffe
posted by classroom teacher at
18:09
3 Comments:
Linda is 100% right. The positive mood I referred to when the Exec originally decided to set a timetable for a ballot on discontinuous strike action will be hard to maintain over such a long period.
An ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory and the experience of the strike convinced thousands of teachers they are part of a strong union which will fight for them.
It is up to us to make sure teachers are not demoralised and demotivated. We can use this time to build the networks of reps (and the National Shop Stewards Network) to make future action on pay or workload more effective.
Jason Travis writes:
I think though we really are going to have to get seriously organised over the comming weeks to begin to build a rank and file network. Classroom teacher could be part of that but I think we need to begin getting to ordinary members in all NUT associations and organising for example around strikes that are taking place and cross union committees with Unison etc.
I feel very disappointed and angry with the NEC decision to not go for strike action in July. What a golden opportunity to link up with UNISON and PCS and pile on the pressure on a vulnerable government that is on the back foot. The NEC decison represents an abject failure to lead. In effect they have raised the white flag of surrender just when the campaign should have been stepped up a level. The NEC's decision will demobilise members many of whom will feel betrayed and let down. Already I have had members ask: what was the point of going on strike in April if the NEC are not prepared to sanction further action?
At meeting after meeting members made the point quite forcefully: the only way we are going to win the pay campaign is if we take coordinated strike action with the other public sector unions.
The national leadership of the NUT are an absolute disgrace. If NEC members are not prepared to fight for NUT members then they should step down and make way for people who are prepared to fight.
Let's hope the divisional secretaries meeting can put pressure on the national leadership to take the campaign forward.
Personally, I don't think the idea of selective action by certain regions will get much of a response. Members will only support industrial action that is going to take the campaign forward. They are not going to give up a day's pay if they think the action they are called upon to support if is ill thought out and has little chance of making an impact.
I agree with Derek we should build the networks of reps to make future action more effective.
We should not hold back from criticising the NEC who are lagging behind the members as usual and are frightened by the prospect of a serious fight with the government.
We can of course use any strike action that takes place in July to keep up the pressure on the national leadership. We need action now not sometime in November.
Dylan Murphy
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