The Socialist 3 July 2013
Tories - cuts, Lib Dems - cuts, Labour - cuts
Tories - cuts, Lib Dems - cuts, Labour - cuts
National Shop Stewards Network seventh annual conference
RMT reaffirms support for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
St Petersburg Pride rally attacked
Cameron and Blair's support for Kazakhstan regime blasted
65th anniversary of the NHS - How workers won the National Health Service
Mass street protests as Egypt is swept by revolution and counter-revolution
Rochdale 'Future Directions' strike solid
'Sick Of Your Boss?' week of action 8-13 July
Fighting back against hated bedroom tax
Letter to student left groups to discuss joint call for a national demo
Impressive national youth organisers meeting
Leeds: Building support for workers in South Africa
The Year of the Paper - boosting the sales of the Socialist
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Teachers strike in North West
Now escalate the action!
Teachers in the North West were on strike on 27 June in the first part of a programme of regional strike action against the Con-Dem attacks on teachers' pay and working conditions and on education in general.
Merseyside teachers' strike rally, 27.6.13, photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
Merseyside strike rally
Over 2,000 teachers from across Merseyside in the NASUWT and NUT unions marched and rallied in Liverpool city centre in a massive show of strength on Thursday 27 June.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
98% of schools in the Liverpool area were effectively closed and this was reflected by similar numbers across Merseyside. The march started at Pier Head and culminated in a rally in St George's Hall.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
The hall was full and an overflow venue had to be closed because so many teachers had packed into the venue! There were hundreds outside the venue straining to hear the speakers.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
The loudest cheer of the day went to Onli Cheung, a Liverpool teacher, who said that this regional protest must be just the start of a series of strikes until we beat education minister Michael Gove.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
The overwhelming mood could be summed up by the sentiment that Gove wants a fight - and we're going to give him one.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
Teachers are so angry, that this action, now that it has started, would be very difficult to turn off at the whim of any leader.
(Click to enlarge)
Teachers are looking forward to linking up with the PCS union in the autumn for coordinated action. Peter Glover, Merseyside and Cheshire executive member of the National Union of Teachers, who is also a Socialist Party member, spoke at a lunchtime rally organised by the PCS where the overwhelming mood was for a united struggle of civil servants and teachers.
Merseyside teachers' strike march, 27.6.13 , photo Tanya Rybko (Click to enlarge)
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Manchester
Paul Gerrard reports:
There was no mistaking the mood of up to 3,000 teachers, members of NUT and NASUWT, as they marched through Manchester.
The hatred of Tory education minister Michael Gove, and Ofsted head Michael Wilshaw, was unmissable. Many younger teachers joined the march pushing push chairs or with toddlers in tow.
Gove's proposals on performance-related pay are intended to abolish teamwork, solidarity and teacher trade unionism, and to give heads free rein to pay teachers what they want.
No doubt pupil achievement statistics will be fiddled to 'prove' which teachers deserve a pay rise, setting teacher against teacher, and don't expect to get a rise if you're a union rep.
The spending review has made it clear that automatic increments, which not all teachers get anyway, are a thing of the past for all public sector workers from 2015.
This strike in the North West was intended as the first in a series of regional strikes, with Yorkshire and the West Midlands to follow in the autumn, though by then the new regulations imposing performance-related pay will be in force, and the unions will be fighting a rearguard action with headteachers and education authorities.
That's why there is increasing recognition that the unions are putting a small bolt on the stable door after the horse is five miles down the lane.
This will fuel the demand to escalate the campaign and for national action early next term. Gove's latest instructions to the pay review body to 'consider' removing all restrictions on teachers' working week/year, will pour more petrol on the fire.
Literally hundreds were turned away from the indoor rally because of fire regulations at the hotel but 800-900 heard the speeches and all received stormy applause.
One young teacher who called for Gove to go got a standing ovation. A TUC speaker promised 'we at the TUC are 100% behind you' (why are they never in front?), and called for a big demo against the Tories in Manchester in September.
That went down a storm. If this rally is anything to go by the September demo will be mega.
- Lobby of Tory Party conference 29 September, Manchester
This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 1 July 2013 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.
In this issue
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tories - cuts, Lib Dems - cuts, Labour - cuts
National Shop Stewards Network seventh annual conference
RMT reaffirms support for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
St Petersburg Pride rally attacked
Cameron and Blair's support for Kazakhstan regime blasted
Socialist Party feature
65th anniversary of the NHS - How workers won the National Health Service
International socialist news and analysis
Mass street protests as Egypt is swept by revolution and counter-revolution
Socialist Party workplace news
Rochdale 'Future Directions' strike solid
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
'Sick Of Your Boss?' week of action 8-13 July
Fighting back against hated bedroom tax
Letter to student left groups to discuss joint call for a national demo
Impressive national youth organisers meeting
Leeds: Building support for workers in South Africa
The Year of the Paper - boosting the sales of the Socialist
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TUSC relaunch in the north west
North West Socialist Party: Corbyn's suspension - what should the response be?
Socialist newspaper sales round-up
Norwich City Council workers vote for strike action over broken promises on pay and conditions
Ealing parking wardens strike against Serco over absence policy
Thurrock refuse workers strike escalates
Establishing factory sales of the Socialist in Leicester
Go Ahead offers deal to Manchester bus drivers
With public campaigning back in full swing - now is the time to raise fighting fund
Manchester bus drivers' indefinite strikers fight on
Teachers demand fighting union strategy
Teachers: On the front line, in their own words
Merseyside: DHL workers at Burton's Biscuits strike against half-baked pay deal and bullying bosses
National Education Union needs a socialist, fighting deputy general secretary
Beal school strikers suspend action after possible victory
Vote 'yes' in the PCS DWP ballot
Academy strike - standing up to 'bullying' management forces climbdown
Martin Powell-Davies for NEU DGS: "We need to use our collective strength"