McAvoy: not appealing to delegates this year
In education, as is clearly the case almost everywhere else, the Tories plans are clearly faltering. Thatcher is on the retreat on a number of issues;
the national curriculum; testing and teacher appraisal. in
CORECAL of shortage; and the general lack of resources available to lund programme. Al the Annual
Conference of the National
Union of Teachers held at
Easter in Boumemouth, the mood of delegates showed a readiness to fight.
Management
Schools (LMS), the comerstone of the Tories" Education Reform
Act, will resulL in massive thircals to security of lenire, for many teacher. Heads and governing bodies will have the power to
"afford" (or simply don't want to employ) and will not have to reemploy "surplus' teachers from
UPDATE another school in the authority if they have vacancies.
With LMS beginning now, in some arcas, threats of redundancies may soon bocome a reality. In the light of this delegates voted for an emergency motion calling for national strike action if Incal action was unable to save teachers jobs. Stalinists and ex" stalinists desperately tried to oppose this move, on the grounds that it would constitute seconaction' (teachers being employed by the LEA or school than the government) After the vote. the NUT's national solicitor was wheeled out and the leadership announced they would not implement the
There were other policy successes, Conference voted for a potential boycoll of the Tories national testing scheme, and for industrial action if the conditions of service of primary leachers undermined by head icachers, and over the loss of negotating rights. The leader: ship only narrowly scraped home on their plans for a Special Salaries Conference. Afler the of this yoar's salary wanted to decide on a plan of action. On the other hand, motions on support for non-payment of the Poll Tax and affiliation to Time to Go were ruled lour of order'. In addition to legal erected by the burcaucacy, the NUT still has an antiquated rule book restricting the areas it can (Conference once again narrowly falled to change this). Because of the way the agenda: was ganised, there was no debate on the resolution on abortion righis, calling for affiliation to STAC.
This confronce will be remembered for the antics of General Secretary Doug Avoy an arch new realist even by Labour Party standards who openly opposes industrial action. When it was clear he was heading Tor trouble on
EMS
Vicious witchunt was pursued, with the help of
National the
Press against
Militant supporter
Dickinson,
Anita recently clocted to the union's Nation-
The influence of
Militant in the NUT is small and their comrades generally participate in the
Socialist Teachers left groups, independent class struggle militants, and the Labour left The
STA can muster over 100 delegates
Conference its support stretches way beyond this. It and the smaller Campaign for a Fighting ind Democratic Union are the
Forces delegations look to to prodefcatist and increasingly right leadership. The regular
STA fringe and lunchtime meetings were bigger than ever this year and plans are under way for salaries mecting to prepare for the union's own Special Conference in the autumn.
The NUT is the first of the main union conferences:
and with the smaller
NAS/WT the other TUC-affiliated teaching union, already strike over pay, and giving their
Icadership a mandate for further action, Thatcher's crisis can be turned inter our opportunity. With the long run up to the General
Election, many NUT Conference delegates clearly understood the need to fight now to determine the type of Labour government we get Though the NUT is not affiliated to the Labour Party the
NUT leadership will simply try to ride the storm and Wait for
Labour'. McAvoy's jibe about elected Conferenco delegates not being in touch with their members is just another cynical manoeuvre in this process.
Martin Allen