CATIONAT York Hall, Old Ford Road, London, E2 (Bethnal Green tube)
Plenaries and workshops Speakers include: John Monks, general secretary TUC; Diane Abbott MP; Joan Lestor MP; Piara Khabra MP; Joan Ruddock MP; Jim Murphy, president NUS; Leela Ramdeen, Cardinal Hume's Committee for the Caribbean; Harry Cohen MP; Kashmir Singh, British Sikh Federation;
Society of Black Lawyers; National Black Caucus: Indian Workers' Association (GB); Ken Livingstone MP; Kumar Murshid, Tower Hamlets Anti-Racist Committee UNOFFICIAL strike action has won concessions from Lewisham Labour Council in the fight against education cuts.
NUT members at two secondary schools defied the Tory trade union laws in protest against redundancy letters due to be sent before Christmas. Nearly 140 Section 11 teachers who work with bilingual pupils had been targeted.
Lewisham NUT has been campaigning against the redundancies and for Lewisham to ask for £1.4 million to cover the full cost of its current section 11 project with central government Lewisham's first bid was rejected and its second attempt was so low as to threaten the loss of at least 40 jobs - thousands of bilingual secondary pupils would have been left with no support at all.
The council's "dented shield" policy has been decisively rejected. Lewisham has been forced to ask the government for the full amount needed to maintain the current level of service. Their commitment to equal opportunities will continue to be tested by this crisis.
The action was spurred in part by Lewisham's shabby employment tactics.
Teachers know that the real battle is only just beginning.
The response of those who took unofficial action shows what can the NUT can achieve with a vigorous campaign of co-ordinated strike action.
Instead of sell outs - like over the SATs - the leadership of the NUT should be launching an offensive against a deeply divided and crumbling Tory government.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No.75. 7 January 1995, Page 3 The welfare state is a