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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Oppose the University pay 'settlement' - for an emergency conference in the UCU

The deal which the University employers, the UCEA, has made with the new union, the University & College Union (UCU) has caused outrage amongst the membership of both component unions, NATFHE and the AUT. The deal goes out to ballot to the membership of the merged union, after the negotiating team of the former AUT took a pre-emptive decision to ballot in any case, calling off the no-marking sanctions that had been in operation. NATFHE after a 50-50 split amongst the Executive members who they are required to consult, decided that they had no option but to follow suit. The 'deal' The deal over...

UCU suspends action

The newly-merged lecturers' union UCU (was AUT and NATFHE) has called off its exams-and-marking boycott in its pay dispute. A UCU member comments: "We've lost, it seems: action short of a strike suspended during a ballot on an offer that looks hardly better than the one that was rejected out of hand last week. 13.1% over three years. The worst thing is that even with a no-vote (which I suspect is unlikely, given how almost everyone wants to see an end to the action so students can graduate, despite the fact that on the UCU activists' list people are almost universally in favour of a no) the...

Lecturers’ pay fight: stand firm!

By a NATFHE conference delegate THE further and higher education lecturers’ union, NATFHE, met for its last conference on 27-29 May. On 1 June NATFHE merges with the Association of University Teachers to form the University and College Union (UCU). The backdrop to the conference was the bitter dispute in universities which started with a national strike in March, followed by a marking boycott and work to rule. When higher education minister Bill Rammell, addressing the conference, had the cheek to say that the employers’ offer was “very substantial” he was heckled and slow handclapped...

Israel boycott is serious mistake

By delegates to the conference of further and higher education lecturers’ union natfhe A resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel was passed at our conference [on 29 May] passing by 106 votes to 74 (with 21 abstentions). The debate and vote reflects the less than perfectly democratic make-up of NATFHE conference — it is made up of delegates from regions, not branches. Nonetheless this was a very poor decision. The text of the motion reads: “Conference notes continuing Israeli apartheid policies, including construction of the exclusion wall, and discriminatory educational practices...

"I would hate myself in the morning"

THE quote above comes from Ring Lardner Jr, the famous writer and member of the Hollywood Ten — who were convicted in 1947 of criminal contempt for refusing to cooperate with the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The ten were imprisoned for a year for their defiance. In fact, Lardner was one of the few who did respond to a question put to him. The question of course was whether he was or had ever been a member of the Communist Party. To which he replied “I could answer the question exactly the way you want, but if I did I would hate myself in the morning”. I am sure Lardner, whatever his...

Another year of messy debate

If a North Korean mathematician wants to come to a conference in Britain, we will be happy to discuss maths with her; we will not demand that she repudiates her state’s constitutional claim that North Korea is a socialist paradise on earth. This is how it should be. Discuss integral calculus during the day; discuss politics over dinner; help her to defect, if she wants. But if an Israeli wants to come to the same conference, she would now have to sign a statement saying that she repudiates Israel’s “apartheid policies”. If she refuses, she won’t be allowed to attend the conference, to have her...

Unions continue pensions battle

rail On Tuesday 6 June the rail unions RMT and TSSA will report the results of their ballots for industrial action over pensions. Their demands, covering all railworkers outside the London Underground, are for pensions to be maintained, worker contributions limited to 10.56%, the Railway Pension Scheme to be open to all railworkers, and the Scheme to be simplified into three sections in place of the over 100 sections which have proliferated since privatisation. Unlike other public service unions, the rail unions are clear in rejecting any “two-tier” deal which would protect existing workers at...

AUT and NATFHE stand firm

by Sofie Buckland, National Union of Students executive member-EleCt LECTURERS’ unions AUT and NATFHE are continuing their dispute over pay, demanding a decent national pay offer despite attempts by university bosses to defuse the dispute through local deals and drawn out national negotiations. AUT members at St Andrews and Aberdeen Universities, the two institutions where the employers have made a local offer significantly more generous than what the University and Colleges Employers' Association was then offering nationally, have rejected the deal and demanded a national settlement (12.5%...

Israel boycott resurfaces in NATFHE

By a NATFHE member On 27-29 May, the lecturers’ union NATFHE will meet in Blackpool for its last conference before merger with another lecturers’ union, AUT, to form the “Universities and College Union”, UCU. NATFHE organises lecturers in further education colleges and the “newer” universities, AUT those in the “older” universities, so the merger has industrial logic. All policy at this last NATFHE conference which conflicts with AUT policy will automatically lapse with the merger, so there would seem little point in pushing anything controversial. The South-East Region of NATFHE, however...

Fight for comprehensive education!

by Patrick Murphy, newly elected NUT executive member The National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference, meeting in Torquay over the Easter bank holiday weekend, confirmed what serious left activists in the union have been saying for some time. The potential for a fight back against the government’s agenda for education exists, but we will not clear the roadblock of our right-wing leadership unless we rebuild and politically renew the left. On pensions, on the Education Bill, on religious schools, large sections of the left at the conference repeatedly failed to stand up for basic socialist...

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