From the blog of Martin Powell Davies, a member of the executive committee of the National Union of Teachers
The NUT National Executive meeting this afternoon welcomed the overwhelming results of our national ballots to seek to persuade the Secretary of State for Education to protect teachers’ pay and working conditions:
The results for the votes covering teachers in England were:
In favour of discontinuous strike action YES 83.4%, NO 16.6%
In favour of industrial action short of strike action YES 93.1% NO 6.9%
Similar majorities were recorded for the ballots in Wales and in Sixth Form Colleges.
The overall turnout (of 27%) compares well with many national ballots. Above all, the huge majorities in favour show that NUT members are ready and willing to take action to oppose the barrage of attacks on our pay and working conditions being thrown at teachers by the Secretary of State Michael Gove.
On the basis of these overwhelming results, the NUT Executive voted unanimously:
- For action short of strike action to commence from 26 September
- In the event that the Government shows no evidence of moving on our concerns, the Union will approach the NASUWT with a view to moving to a programme of discontinuous strike action later this term
- To propose to the NASUWT a joint meeting of our National Executives to consider the next steps in the campaign
A set of 25 action short of strike action instructions were tabled at the National Executive and will shortly be issued to members so that urgent preparations can now be made in schools and Local Associations to commence action on 26 September.
This action will be being taken jointly alongside the NASUWT, representing, in total, 85% of teachers in England and Wales.
It was also reported to the Executive that, as part of our dispute with the Secretary of State, the ballot result will allow the Union to escalate from action short of strike up to strike action where a school group, or groups, request it.
This may rapidly become an issue in those schools and Local Authorities who are refusing to adopt appraisal/performance management and/or classroom observation policies in line with the NUT/NASUWT joint checklists.
There will be a joint NASUWT/NUT Press Conference at the TUC Congress in Brighton on Monday (where there is also likely to be an Emergency Motion tabled by the NUT on the GCSE marking scandal).
