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NOMINATE PATRICK MURPHY FOR NUT DEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY

• ·         FIGHT TO WIN

• ·        TAKE EFFECTIVE ACTION TO REDUCE WORKLOAD

• ·         PUT THE SCHOOL GROUP AT THE HEART OF THE UNION

• ·         ONE UNION FOR ALL SCHOOL WORKERS

• ·         TEACHERS’ LEADERS ON A TEACHERS SALARY

Why I am asking for support as NUT Deputy General Secretary

Winning our disputes

Teachers are not winning the dispute with Michael Gove. We have now felt the third consecutive increase in our pension contributions, national pay scales have been abolished and the retirement age for the vast majority of teachers has risen by several years.  Stupidity, as Einstein once said, is continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results. It is decision time for the NUT; it is time to give up or step up. With 40% of new teachers leaving the job within five years we need to step up the action to a level where the Secretary of State and our members can see that we are serious.

We need to combine the public campaigning, street stalls and political pressure with a plan for ongoing and escalating industrial action which can win serious improvements. We need precise demands instead of bland calls for Gove to "consider compromise".

I have proposed, argued and voted for such an approach at every stage in this campaign

The NUT has been right to turn outwards to parents and the public in the campaign to stand up for education. But, industrially, we built up momentum in 2011 only to allow it to dissipate.

 Three one day national strikes spread over three years, and one set of regional strikes, is not enough to beat Gove, or to put real pressure for improvements on a possible Labour government after 2015.

Reducing Workload

It is good that the STRB rejected Michael Gove’s plans to lengthen school terms and the working day.  But that prevented teacher workload from becoming even worse, it doesn’t make it any better. We need changes which enable us to come fresh to our classrooms, which free us from bureaucracy to focus on teaching, and which make teaching a tolerable job.

The NUT-NASUWT joint workload action achieved gains, but only in a small number of schools.

The DfE workload survey shows that teachers' average weekly hours have increased to 59 for primary and 56 for secondary.

The union should re-launch and step up the workload action, and focus it more tightly on a few key pressure points such as appraisal targets, data entry, requirements to submit lesson plans, meetings, and observations. Victories on those issues will rebuild union power to help us win on pay, pensions, etc.

We should fight, in alliance with parents and the wider public, for a national contract for decent conditions which cover all teachers in state-funded schools. 

Organising from the bottom

Maintain local divisions and associations but build workplace groups and academy chain committees.

I want to see local associations and divisions remain as the local democratic focus for members. It makes sense for me mbers to link up each other in the areas where they live and work. But they are no longer enough on their own.  With the growth of academies and the weakening of local authorities it is more important than ever that the workplace group is strengthened and empowered within union structures. School groups should be at the heart of the Union. The union should build committees to link school groups across Academy chains. Negotiations with academy chains should wherever possible be led and controlled by members working in those chains. Union decision-making should be more transparent, with the Executive discussing proposals from the rank and file and publishing its minutes.

One school workers’ union

With all teachers - and all support staff - in one union we can defend education and protect all our conditions more effectively.

Picking up on our message of "Fair Pensions For All", the union should also be politically active, working with the rest of the labour movement to advance social equality, social provision, workers' rights, and education which inspires and liberates.

A teachers’ leader on a teachers’ salary.

Union leaders should be much closer to their members and to the conditions they experience. If elected I would remain on my current teachers’ salary point. 

Patrick is the Division Secretary for Leeds NUT and National Executive member for district 4 (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). He is an active socialist, a supporter of the Local Associations National Action Campaign and a member of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty.