NASUWT Islington Association

THE CAREER TEACHER’S ORGANISATION April 2003

www.islington.nasuwt.org.uk

 

To all Islington Teachers,

Annual General Meeting
Time: 4:30 - 6pm
Date: Tuesday 3rd June 2003
Venue: Masque Haunt Public House,
Old Street EC1 (near the tube)
refreshments will of course be provided

Well I hope you all had a good break over Easter. This Summer term is going to be a long one - or feel like it at least, with a short four week half term and then a long haul to July.

 

Over the page is the nomination sheet for union officers. This is the result of various union legislation. The main effect is that if positions are contested, there has to be a postal ballot. All those interested have to be nominated before the agendas go out to give time for the ballot to be completed.

 

Conference:

After all the controversies surrounding teaching, conference began with an interesting debate on pensions (no, that’s not an oxymoron). Many people still do not believe that this is a concern for younger teachers. The central question was whether now is the time to be quiet and defend the "final pay" pension that we have, or to press for what we aspire to, with full pensions available after 30 years service. The Conservative spokesman said he had been inundated with teachers who wanted to know why they had to retire at 65, but the audience was sceptical...

The liveliest debate was on the report on the future of the union. The first part of this dealt with how we organise the union internally, with the government moving towards a regional structure with several "development areas"; the second related to the various teaching unions working together. Now in the last two years there has been a major convergence of views, which should have culminated in a major show of unity when the workload agreement was signed in January. For its own reasons the NUT not only withdrew from the agreement, but began a public campaign aimed specifically at NASUWT (10 unions signed the agreement) and proposed its own industrial action on unrelated matters. NUT are in a minority on this. Just ATL and NASUWT represent 400,000 teachers. As a result, as NUT has separated from the unity established with other unions, many felt that there was no point discussing closer arrangements if they are determined to go their own way.

The decision went to a card vote and it was decided not to discuss a merger this year by a vote of 95,000 to 60,000.

Charles Clark brought along his spreadsheets and graphs to explain exactly where the money for workload reduction would come from. £3 billion new money - this agenda will be the main aim of Standards Fund money for next year.

When asked what he would say to headteachers who refuse to implement the agreement, he stated simply that it is a contract and therefore is not negotiable.

Charles Clark also felt that the NASUWT represents modern trade unionism, but when he went on to say that we should avoid industrial action, he was reminded by Eamonn O’Kane of the long list of recent victories and told that we will continue to defend members’ interests whenever necessary.

I was pleased that I was more effective in my speaking this year, when I and other London delegates spoke in favour of strengthening a motion on the Upper Pay Spine, the Executive opposed the amendment, yet the delegates unanimously supported it. It is always good to know that you can make a difference.

This year was a positive conference, with a great deal of unanimity across the country. We have achieved a lot this year and now must consolidate those gains.

Greg Robbins


News in Brief

UNISON members will take strike action in some schools on 7,8,9th and 20,21,22nd April.

You should not carry out any work they would normally, except if individual pupils require support for their GCSEs.

Charles Lamb and Ecclesbourne schools look set to merge, although consultation is continuing. "Golden Handcuffs" have been agreed for staff.

New advice on how child protection issues relate to teachers is being drawn up.

Maternity and Paternity rights have been improved from the beginning of this month. Parents of young or disabled children may ask for "flexible working".

Budgets have now been sent to schools.


 

Nominations for Offices within Islington NASUWT

Candidates for offices in the Islington Association should be eligible for membership of the association (that is, be a paid up full member of the NASUWT and have a connection with the borough, working in Islington or choosing Islington as the association which best serves his/her interests)

This is to nominate ....................................................................................................................

of .............................................................................................................. school / PRU / other

for the post of :

Secretary

Assistant Secretary

 

Treasurer

Health and Safety Officer

 

Vice President

 

This nomination is proposed by ...............................................................................................

of ............................................................................................................. school / PRU / other

and seconded by .......................................................................................................................

of ............................................................................................................. school / PRU / other

Declaration to be signed by the candidate:

I, ............................................... (print name) am a paid-up member of the NASUWT and am prepared to accept the nomination for the above post,

signed ....................................................... date ...............................

Nominations should be sent to Sue Butler, NASUWT London Regional Centre, 5 Wendle Court, 131-7 Wandsworth Road SW8 2LH (fax: 7978 1860) to arrive by Tuesday 13th May.

If there is only one nomination for a post then that person will be elected unopposed. Postal ballots will be arranged in the event of a contested election.

Additional posts could be created at the AGM if the meeting so desired. These posts could include, but would not be limited to:

Social Events Officer, Equal Opportunities Officer, London Liaison Officer, Benevolence Officer

Technically these posts would be subject to ratification at the Autumn General Meeting.-

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