Tamil Remembrance Day Protest

I spoke today in Trafalgar Square at the rally organised to recall and protest against the brutal massacre of Tamils as the war in Sri Lanka reached an end two years ago.

Video here

At the time, thousands of Tamils marched to publicise the crisis and to demand that the world's governments acted to stop the slaughter. I spoke at the protests in Parliament Square and brought the issue to the attention of the NUT Annual Conference.

Now, belatedly, a new UN Report confirms the horrific truth - of the murder of over 40,000 Tamils and the mass detention of 400 000 people.

As a teacher, I was shocked to read the UN Report listing the crimes against children, the complete breakdown of schooling, of horrific injuries, psychological trauma and acute malnutrition.

But, when Tamils protested in 2009 across the globe, the UN failed to act. Only now are they admitting what took place. Big business politicians have always put their own strategic interests ahead of the interests of the peoples of Sri Lanka.

The MPs who came to address the square from all three of the main UK political parties made promises to the crowds - but experience should warn the Tamil community about relying on capitalist politicians' promises.

Tamils, and all of us who support the right to self determination of the Tamil speaking people, must turn to our own organisations - and the organisations of working people - the trade unions - for genuine solidarity.

Just as Tamils marched in 2009, trade unions in Britain marched in 2011 against attacks on our jobs and services. We know the best way to make politicians listen is to take action, which is why we will also be on strike on June 30 to defend our pensions.

Those same attacks on working conditions are taking place in Sri Lanka through the proposed free trade zones. Trade union organisation will be vital to oppose the oppression and exploitation of Tamil youth and workers.

But the trade union movement in Britain also has a proud tradition of fighting injustice and oppression. It also has the strength to get its message out to millions across Britain. The message from the rally today - and the demands for a full independent enquiry into the massacres two years ago - must be taken up by trade unions here in Britain.

I pledge to take up that message within the NUT. But Tamil workers must also go to their union branches and speak up about the atrocities that took place. They should feel confident that they will get the support for their colleagues if they call for letters of protests and solidarity from their union branches.

Let's work together to make sure the truth is known - and to oppose poverty and oppression here and in Sri Lanka.

Lewisham NUT Briefing pledges to go out and win the ballot!

An excellent joint ATL/NUT briefing in Lewisham tonight laid a firm foundation for getting out an excellent ballot result in favour of strike action to defend pensions.

48 staff attended from a wide range of schools. There were a few issues to clarify - like what the pensions robbery meant for young teachers, how NASUWT members could join the strike action (by joining the NUT!) and about how many schools would close across the borough on June 30 (we thought most!).

Teachers agreed to take on the job of chasing up the vote in their schools - from both NUT and ATL members - and contacting other schools besides. 40 different school 'registers' were taken away by staff who promised to chase up the vote in those schools - which means that the NUT officers can now concentrate on getting in touch with the other 50 or so remaining workplaces.

When asked at the end of the meeting to show who was optimistic that they could get a good vote in their schools, everyone's hands went up:

YOU can help win the ballot

Need a powerpoint to help explain the issues? - why not download my version from the  Lewisham NUT website http://local.teachers.org.uk/lewisham/

Don’t just think about returning your own YES vote - make sure all your colleagues are voting too!

The National Union will be helping to encourage a big turnout with mailings, phone messages and texts. But there’s no substitute for personal contact.

Here’s a few ideas that you can try:
    Keep a register! Make a list of NUT and ATL members in your school.    Tick-off who has received their ballot paper, and who has sent it back. Keep on badgering until everyone has voted!
    Phone a friend: Remind your facebook friends, text and e-mail your colleagues in other schools, drop by at lunchtime.
    Sign the Pledge: Put a poster on your staffroom noticeboard and get everyone to sign-up to show their support.
    Bring in your votes: call a school NUT meeting to discuss why NOW is the time to act. If colleagues also bring  in their ballot papers, reps can also be sure that the votes have been posted.

Not got your ballot paper? CALL THE NUT BALLOT HOTLINE:  020 7380 6300

Pay More, Get Less, Retire Older? No way! VOTE YES!

The latest reports from the Bank of England about falling growth and rising inflation only confirm what the NUT has been saying. Firstly, cuts don’t help the economy, they make things worse. Secondly,  a pay freeze combined with rising prices means another squeeze on our incomes.

That’s one more reason why NOW is the time to vote for  action to defeat the government’s plans to make every teacher pay in more - to end up with a worse pension!

Remember, these increased contributions aren’t going to help pay for retired colleagues’ pensions – but are just an extra ‘stealth tax’ to help bail out the Government’s deficit.

The ConDems have already budgeted for the £2.8 billion that they plan to rake in from this attack on public sector pensioners. They’re not offering any serious ‘negotiations’. All they want is for unions to decide amongst themselves who will be robbed the most – and how much less we’ll get in return through an inferior career-average scheme.

Strike action is needed to make them think again.

NUT Pensions Calculator spells it out

If any teachers are in doubt about what they stand to lose, make sure that they log on to the NUT Pensions Loss Calculator on the NUT website: http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/12872

What about holding your school NUT meeting in an ICT room so that staff can see for themselves?

The materials that will be circulated with the ballot papers will give real examples from teachers facing £100+ monthly pay cuts and showing the £100,000’s that will be stolen from their pensions over their  retirement if the Government gets away with their attacks.

These calculated losses are shocking enough. But news from the NUT Executive shows that, if anything, they are an underestimate of what we could lose.

More attacks coming – unless we act

With Hutton’s own figures confirming that the costs of public sector pensions are falling, the Government need to invent a reason for making us pay more into their     coffers. So they have announced a change to the ‘Discount Rate’ used to estimate the costs of our scheme. The details are complex but the intention is clear – to fiddle the figures to hike up our contributions.

The pensions loss calculator factors in the change from RPI to CPI and the proposed increase in retirement age. But the Con-Dems have another attack still to come. Hutton has also recommended a change from a final salary scheme to a career average scheme. This could make the attacks on our pensions  a whole lot worse.

For now, most teachers get a pension calculated on 1/80 of their final salary for each year of pensionable service.  So, if you manage to work for 40 years, you get a pension equal to half your final salary. Using a ‘career - average’ income would yield a lower pension – but that can be satisfactorily offset by using a higher ‘accrual rate’ than 1/80. For example, the Civil Service unions negotiated a career-average scheme that uses 1/43. But reports on the negotiations given to the NUT  Executive suggest that the Government has no intention of implementing anything as good as this. They may even try to make accrual rates worse. This wouldn’t just be pensions robbery, it would be assault and battery!

Be in no doubt, we are in for a serious struggle. June 30 needs to be a real show of strength. If the Government won’t back down, we need to be ready to go further and escalate our action next term with others, like the NAHT, then planning to join us in action too.

NOW is the time for action

The idea put forward by the NASUWT leadership that  unions should wait until negotiations are completed before unions start to ballot is, at best, naïve.  At worst, it risks allowing the Government to say unions are divided – when we need to show united opposition.

Fortunately, five other teacher, headteacher & lecturer  unions have agreed to issue the same united message – “now is the time to defend our pensions”.

But existing NASUWT members don’t have to wait for their union to finally ballot. If they sign a Direct Debit Form for NUT membership for 2012 they can join the NUT for free in 2011. Anyone joining the NUT right up to June 30 will be legally covered to join the strike action.

Making plans for June 30

First of all we have to win the ballot - and the Executive heard that nearly 200 different reps briefings have been held over the last fortnight or so to build the campaign. However, we also have to look ahead and make plans for June 30 - planned as the first strike day. There will be a big march and rally in Central London with the route and venue now under discussion.

Striking teachers, lecturers and civil servants will be marching to defend their pensions. We hope other Londoners will also come and join us to show their opposition to the ConDem cuts too.

Inflation on the rise - one more reason to vote for strike action

"Bank of England cuts growth forecast and issues 5% inflation warning"

These headlines in today's papers confirm two things:

1) The Con-Dem cuts AREN'T necessary 'medicine' for the economy - they are just cutting demand and making economic recovery even less likely - just as Ireland has already demonstrated. So let's take action to stop the cuts to our pensions!

2) With prices rising, but a pay freeze imposed on teachers for September, we're already going to struggle to pay the bills. But Hutton wants us to pay 50% more on our pension contributions (to then earn less pension when we eventually reach retirement at 67 or 68) ! For me, that's another £102 a month pay cut - log on to the NUT website pensions loss calculator to see what you will lose: http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/12872

These predicted pay cuts might be even worse if the Con-Dems try to make higher-paid staff like teachers take more of a hit than other public sector workers. It's also clear that they want to introduce a 'career-average' scheme that is calculated to pay out far less to teachers than existing final-salary schemes. 

That's why teachers needs to be taking strike action THIS term - while the action is still able to influence negotiations. The NASUWT's divisive decision to wait until next term to ballot will mean that they could only join in with the ATL & NUT action in October at the earliest. That's far too late.

Remember, NASUWT members who want to take action in June can join the NUT for FREE as long as they fill in a Direct Debit form for 2012 NUT membership. Growing numbers of NASUWT members have already decided to do so.

Look out for your ballot paper arriving at your home from 17 May onwards - and let's get a massive vote for strike action to defend our pensions!

Lewisham NUT battling teacher redundancies

Lewisham NUT are battling to oppose compulsory redundancies to teachers in a number of Lewisham schools.

These include:
Two Visual Arts teaching posts being lost at Deptford Green School
A further Art Teacher threatened at St.Matthews Academy
A Teacher of English to be identified for redundancy at Forest Hill School.

There are further potential threats to teachers working in Children's Centres and in the LEARN Early Years advisory team - the union is awaiting the release of a consultation paper this Friday on the future of Early Years provision.

Martin Powell-Davies, Secretary of Lewisham NUT said:
"At a time when pupil rolls are rising in Lewisham, a loss of teaching staff means a loss of support for Lewisham's youngsters.

We are particularly concerned about the proposed redundancy at Forest Hill School. Forets Hill is a successful school. It's budget deficit has nothing to do with falling rolls. However, it faces substantial cost increases as a result of the PFI contract that was agreed for the new building. Lewisham NUT does not believe that pupils should lose support - and teachers lose their jobs - to pay for the costs of PFI. The Local Authority - who helped negotiate this contract - has a particular responsibility to act to avoid this redundancy of one of their employees".

Forest Hill staff met yesterday to pledge their support for a campaign to oppose the redundancy and the continuing threat to the school's budget. Unions are preparing a campaign of action which could include both strike action and action short of strike action.

All out to win the pensions ballot!

This Government may have hoped that they were going to get away with their savage cuts to jobs, services and pensions without a serious fight. They were wrong.

The massive turnout on the March 26 demonstration gave the Con-Dems a clear warning that they had better back off. A united national strike of teachers and other workers - with the threat of further action to come - will send an even stronger message !

Thursday June 30 - pencilled in for the first strike day - should see around three-quarters of a million - NUT and ATL teachers, lecturers in UCU, civil servants in PCS - on strike to defend their pensions. We also have to make clear that this could be just the start. If the Con-Dems won’t back down, we must escalate our strike action next term - with other unions like the NAHT then joining in too.

Unions should make plans now for local joint union rallies in the lead-up to the strike and for big regional demonstrations on June 30. Invites should go out to other unions and anti-cuts campaigners to come along too. We must explain that a victory over pensions can help give confidence to everyone else fighting against cuts to their jobs, conditions and services as well.

First of all, the ATL and NUT must win their strike ballots. Let’s win them with such a decisive majority - and with a solid turnout - that there can be no doubt as to the determination of teachers to fight this blatant robbery. Ballot papers will be posted to home addresses from May 17 onwards. Make sure you send back your YES vote straight away. But don’t just remember your own vote - make sure all your colleagues are voting too!

 Call a school union meeting. Why not hold it in the ICT room so that colleagues can log on to the ‘pensions loss calculator’ on the national NUT website to see exactly how much they stand to lose!

 Keep a register! Have a list of NUT and ATL members in your school ready. Tick-off who has received their ballot paper - and, above all, who has sent it back. Keep reminding everyone to vote until the YES ‘marks’ are all back in !

 Remind colleagues in other schools to vote too. Pop in to a nearby school; remind your facebook friends; send an e-mail, text or tweet - whatever it takes to get the message far and wide - VOTE YES TO DEFEND YOUR PENSION!