Fighting to change the NUT

SOCIALIST PARTY member Martin Powell-Davies is campaigning to stand as general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

He told the socialist: "The legacy of outgoing general secretary McAvoy's leadership is of failure. Ordinary teachers have a deadening workload which has driven many of them out of teaching. Many older teachers would like to take early retirement but now the government is trying to block that.

"There's under-funding, there's a pay freeze, there's performance related pay, SATs, privatisation, management bullying. There's OFSTED, there's teaching on the cheap. There's so many issues there's huge discontent in the staff room.

"But many ordinary teachers are really angry that the union has let them down.

And that's why I'm standing to change the NUT union. Teachers need to see there's someone at the top of the union who's actually in touch with them, who understands what the problems facing teachers are and is actually going to do something about them."

Martin is standing as a teachers' leader on a teacher's salary, for an end to teachers' excessive workloads and for the union to organise effective action against performance pay and the pay freeze.

He's also standing for a serious campaign to end SATs and league tables and for unity in action against the government's plans for teaching on the cheap - for strike action to oppose unqualified staff taking teaching posts and for decent pay and conditions for all education staff.

He's also campaigning to defend the right to retire at 60 on a full pension.

To find out more about the campaign see the website:

http://elect-martin.tripod.com

email: [email protected]

tel: 07946 445488

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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.