Vote Patrick Murphy in NUT election

Submitted by Matthew on 14 January, 2015 - 12:43

According to an National Union of Teachers (NUT) survey, 30% of teachers have been denied pay progression this year under new performance related pay rules brought in from September 2013.

The survey also found that denial of pay progression was higher in primary schools that in secondary schools, and was higher for black and minority ethnic teachers. 90% of those denied progression reported that there was no indication in the year that this was a possibility.

More than three quarters said they were not planning on appealing the decision, despite NUT advice to do so. Appealing pay decisions is an individual and isolating process, and requires the teacher to stand up to management alone. The NUT has so far failed to organise an effective industrial dispute on pay, and delayed fighting the proposals until after schools had to put them in place in September 2013.

Teachers, or indeed groups of teachers in schools, should not be left isolated to fight denial of pay progression. An offensive to reinstate national pay is needed.

The NUT should go beyond that to make a pay claim for a £2000 increase for all teachers to recoup losses through pay freezes and inflation. Every year the union should negotiate a pay increase, at least in line with inflation, with the government.

Workers’ Liberty member Patrick Murphy is standing in the Deputy General Secretary election on the basis of these policies. As a support of the Local Associations National Action Campaign, he has argued for a strike strategy for the union which didn’t delay and leave gaps between strikes, which names dates in advance, and which involves members in deciding the future of the dispute.

Voting in the election closes on January 26, at 12 noon.

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