Let's teach Mr Blunkett a lesson!
By a delegate to NUT conference
The issue of Performance Related Pay (PRP) dominated the teaching union conferences held over Easter weekend. This issue is at the core of the government’s proposals in the Green Paper on teachers’ pay and conditions.
The largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted to oppose the Green Paper and to initiate a campaign to boycott appraisal and for a one day strike.
Appraisals are important, as they will be the way that teachers are selected to receive additional payments related to performance. The National Association of Schoolmasters & Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) leadership have taken a conciliatory position towards the linking of appraisal and pay, whilst the moderate Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) made unusually militant-sounding noises from its conference in Harrogate. Socialist Outlook teachers are active in the NUT.
The government’s immediate aim is to divide and therefore weaken the response of the teachers’ unions. In this they are being aided by newspapers like The Guardian, which has attacked the NUT’s approach.
NUT activists need to reach out to rank and file members of the ATL & NASUWT as part of our campaign. There are clearly thousands of NASUWT members who are deeply unhappy with any suggestion of linking appraisal and pay.
Education Secretary David Blunkett addressed NUT conference – the same conference that, two years ago gave him a standing ovation. This year, Blunkett got a much, much cooler reception, with only a very lukewarm round of applause from a minority of conference.
Provocative
Blunkett was deliberately provocative, and seemed determined to portray himself as standing up to the ‘dangerous militants’ of the NUT. He had little, if anything, to offer to delegates.
Teachers are massively disillusioned with the education policies of New Labour, although around 60% vote for them. Not only do teachers continue to feel denigrated by government, they also are witnessing policies that are more in keeping with Conservative philosophy.
Extra funding has been announced but it is almost invariably linked to some specific limited initiative of the government.
So government funding has been made available to the 25 Education Action Zones (EAZs), but that money has not been felt at the chalkface. There have not been reductions in class size in the EAZ areas which are, by and large, in the most deprived areas of England.
Similarly, teachers have reacted with hostility to proposals for extra funding for small groups of children, whether year 6 booster classes or "bright" kids from the inner-cities. As NUT delegates pointed out, what is needed is increased funding for all schools and decent pay for all teachers.
Running through several debates was the attitude of the union to New Labour. On several issues, EAZs, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Fairness at Work, the differences were stark.
The left argued successfully for outright opposition to PFI and EAZs whilst, of course, accepting that members working within EAZs or in PFI-funded schools needed union support. In both cases, the union leadership tried to win conference to a position that accommodated to New Labour.
A similar divide was very apparent on the issue of Employment Rights and an Executive Priority Motion on Fairness at Work, however due to time pressures no policy was passed on this issue.
The conference took place in the run-up to the election for the post of General Secretary of the NUT. There are two candidates, incumbent Doug McAvoy and left-winger Christine Blower.
Socialist Outlook supporters are calling for a vote for Christine Blower, as are all sections of the left in the union. Whilst McAvoy clearly remains favourite, an election campaign fought during a period of industrial action may work to the left’s advantage.
However, a very careful watch needs to be kept on Doug McAvoy. He is entirely capable of talking left to win re-election whilst simultaneously preparing the ground for a sell-out behind the scenes with Blunkett.
An amendment demanding a special one day conference was unfortunately lost, this would have been a useful way of keeping pressure on the leadership.
Activists in the NUT will return from conference with the task of ensuring a massive yes majority in the vote to strike and boycott appraisal.
The government has tried to head off this action by announcing a delay in the introduction of compulsory appraisals linked to pay. Voluntary appraisals will start after the summer.
The NUT campaign must go ahead, and there is a real opportunity for activists to hold meetings in a very wide range of schools on this issue.