Education unions

National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of University Teachers (AUT), National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) and other education unions

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Two speeches on Ukraine at UK school workers' conference

The 2022 National Education Union (NEU) conference saw heated debate about Ukraine. In the end the conference voted down the only motion available, a Stop the War Coalition-type one (more on what happened here ). Below are excerpts of two speeches given by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign supporters in the debate. Delegate from Lewisham NEU: Much of what’s been said has been characterised by false equivalence and oversimplification. Even Alex [Kenny] when he moved the main motion spoke more about NATO and Western leaders than about the Putin regime and Russian leaders. The problem I have with this...

Workers' Liberty bulletins at National Education Union conference 2022

You can download the 14-page bulletin produced by Workers' Liberty school workers for the National Education Union conference (11-14 April, Bournemouth) here . And here is the additional bulletin we put on the final day of the conference. We held a fringe meeting on Ukraine: Ukraine should decide its own future! Russian troops out now! Speakers from Ukrainian socialist / labour movement organisation Sotsialniy Rukh and from the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign 6pm, Tuesday 12th April Kennedy Room, Durley Dean Hotel, 28 West Cliff Rd, Bournemouth BH2 5HE

The SWP's dire motion on Ukraine for UCU Congress

Among the four motions on Ukraine submitted to the University and College Union’s June Congress – alongside a better one from the union’s national executive – is an absolutely dire one, submitted from City & Islington College. It is clearly a product of the Socialist Workers’ Party. UCU has now backed the 9 April trade union demonstration in support of Ukraine and its labour movement. If UCU Congress passes the City & Islington motion, that would be a step backwards. The City & Islington motion states a belief in “Putin’s responsibility for the bloodshed and believes that US and NATO military...

More on HE: Ukraine, UCU NEC, Unison SGE, anti-union laws

Ukraine and HE unions Both UCU and Unison let down members in the past weeks with poor statements on the war in Ukraine. UCU General Secretary Jo Grady released a statement so bland it could have been in reference to any conflict around the world, without even mentioning Putin, let alone the imperialist nature of the invasion. Although we understand the UCU’s NEC have met and agreed an updated statement, this has not appeared publicly on the UCU’s website: Grady’s statement remains the main public UCU article on Ukraine. Unison NEC's statement , passed in mid-March, does not appears on that...

GDST gets two-tier deal

The strikes by teachers in the Girls' Day School Trust private schools have won a partial victory, but at the cost of accepting a "two-tier" workforce in future in which workers doing the same job are nevertheless on different conditions. The teachers, members of the National Education Union (NEU), voted on 14-15 March to accept an offer after ACAS talks which keeps them in the Teachers' Pension Scheme but new starters out. The NEU refused to sign a deal with GDST and says: "The proposal to close the TPS to new teachers remains a significant concern to the union".

Support Russia's teachers organising against Putin's war

"Peace to Ukraine, freedom to Russia" Republished from the socialist blog People and Nature . The original on People and Nature also includes an open letter from a Ukrainian teacher. An open letter against Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine had yesterday [7 March] been signed by more than 5000 Russian teachers – and some signatories are facing pressure and threats from their managers. “Violence goes against the very essence of our profession”, the letter states, implicitly supporting teachers who are resisting the propagation of the Kremlin’s military aims and ideology in classrooms. The open...

Union sets new strikes in GDST

The National Education Union (NEU) has now named further strike dates, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday every week until the Easter holidays, for teachers in the 23 private schools run by the Girls Day School Trust (GDST).

The teachers have already completed six days of well supported strikes to defend...

Union sets new strikes in GDST

The National Education Union (NEU) has now named further strike dates, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday every week until the Easter holidays, for teachers in the 23 private schools run by the Girls Day School Trust (GDST). The teachers have already completed six days of well supported strikes to defend their pensions against the threat of being removed from the Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS). The NEU naming these dates, an effective escalation, is entirely correct. Having already won some small softeners from the GDST, members were dismayed when the management refused proposed ACAS talks. Members had...

GDST needs more strikes

On 21 February, the trustees of the Girls Day School Trust (GDST), a chain of 23 private schools, issued the decision from their “consultation” over proposed changes to teachers’ pensions.

Under pressure for the National Education Union (NEU) members in their schools, who had already struck once...

GDST needs more strikes

On 21 February, the trustees of the Girls Day School Trust (GDST), a chain of 23 private schools, issued the decision from their “consultation” over proposed changes to teachers’ pensions. Under pressure for the National Education Union (NEU) members in their schools, who had already struck once and had strikes set for later that week, the decision offered some sweeteners, the most significant being a delay in coming out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) until 30th September 2023; a minimum 11% pay rise over two years; and a signing-up payment of £2,000. But the GDST still wants to take...

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