Short-term saving, long-term misery

Isn’t it obvious that giving young children a good start by investing in Sure Start will save far greater sums being spent on education and social services in future?

Lewisham Council is one of many desperately looking at its Children’s Centre’s budgets to balance its books. Before Christmas it was proposing a £1.7M cut. Now that’s risen to £2.7M.

Officers propose that all 19 Children’s Centres will be taken over by schools or outsourced to the voluntary or private sector. But this “Big Society” approach will mean both loss of provision and fee rises for parents. For staff, it will mean up to 50 job losses.

Politicians can argue who is to blame. Families know they will be the losers.

Martin Powell-Davies, Secretary, Lewisham NUT


A response to Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian yesterday highlighting the dangers to Sure Start funding cuts:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/28/children-legacy-debt-sure-start

Workers and Students Unite and Fight

"Workers and Students, Unite and Fight" was the slogan resounding through Central London today as a joint demonstration of students and trade unionists marched in protest at education cuts, tuition fee rises and the axing of the EMA.

NUT delegations were there with their banners from a number of NUT Associations. Chants of "Tunisia and Egypt, Solidarity" showed how the revolutionary events in those countries were inspiring youth in London too.

Unions discuss joint action - but when will it be called?!

Yesterday's joint meeting of public sector trade unions gathered together the forces that, together, have the strength to stop this Government's damaging cuts on jobs, pay, pensions and services.

The media headlines and reports about unions discussing action were good to read - but what an opportunity was lost by the TUC tops to announce that that action was now on its way!

Instead of using the media attention to issue a clear call to arms, the impression from the official TUC statement is one of further delay and prevarication. It risks encouraging the Government into thinking that the trade union movement is not serious in standing up to their attacks. Trade union members, knowing that their jobs and pensions are under threat, will also be disappointed that there has not been a clearer lead. 

A Lewisham NUT school rep emailed me to say: "Listening to Today this morning there was talk of the strike ballot and strike not happening until late Summer / Autumn as the TUC is in negotiations with the government. I think this would be a mistake and should be avoided as we have built up a fair level of momentum and this would be dissipated if we go down this "put off till tomorrow strategy". Surely a strike by all public sector unions not only gives negotiators more clout but also energises the strikers themselves? I feel this would be a big strategic and tactical error". 

Fortunately, this need for greater urgency was made clear by some of the left-led unions within the TUC meeting. The NUT Executive is meeting again on February 10th to discuss what now needs to be done.

The revolution is being televised

Trade unionists will have been inspired by the revolutionary movements spreading from Tunisia to Egypt and beyond. With great courage,workers and youth have risen up against these dictatorial regimes, overcoming the fear of decades.

Teachers have played their part too. In Tunisia, when the ‘interim’ regime ordered schools to be re-opened on Monday, teachers immediately engaged in solid strike action. The participation was 100% in Medenine, Sidi Bouzid, Kasserine, Beja, Jendouba and Kairouan, 90% in Zaghouan (near Tunis) where there is no union tradition, and solid in Tunis. 

Events are still moving with great speed - look out for analysis and updates on http://www.socialistworld.net

PENSIONS - It's Official - this is robbery

Since the NUT Executive last met, more evidence has emerged of the threats to our pensions. On 7 January, the Department of Education wrote to the Union to say that the Chancellor wants to announce the proposed increases in our pensions contributions in the Budget on March 23rd. (UPDATE - they've agreed to postpone the decision until the summer).

So, before Lord Hutton has even issued his final pensions report - and without any valuation to justify these increases (see below) - the Con-Dems have already decided we’ll be paying more - much more - from our pay.

The letter says that proposed increases will be phased in over three years. But by 2014, the proportion of pay taken for pensions could go up from 6.4% to 9.8%.
Whatever your age or salary, this would be a big pay cut:
Inner London Salary             3.5% extra from your pay 
M1 = £27,000 p.a.         = £79 MONTHLY PAY CUT
M6 = £36,387 p.a.        = £106 MONTHLY PAY CUT
U1 = £41,497 p.a.         = £121 MONTHLY PAY CUT
U3 = £45,000 p.a.         = £131 MONTHLY PAY CUT

There’s no need for our pension contributions to go up.

That’s the clear message from statistics contained in a National Audit Office report published last month. The Report confirms that the changes agreed between Unions and the Government after our last campaign are “on course to deliver substantial savings”. In fact, the Government Actuary’s Dept. calculates those changes will cut the cost of public sector pensions by 14%. There is no justification for the proposed contribution hikes!

Of course, life expectancy has been increasing. That’s why one of the ‘savings’ previously agreed was that our contributions would go up from 6.0% to 6.4% in 2007. But this was based on a proper valuation of the scheme looking at all the relevant statistics. There has been NO new valuation made to justify what the Government is imposing. This is unjustified robbery. We have to stop it.

ACADEMIES - Government Agenda Exposed

NUT Executive members have been sent a copy of a letter written by Government Minister, Lord Hill, that exposes exactly how they want to use Academies to rip up teachers’ national pay and conditions.

It makes clear that “we consider the ability to set the pay and conditions of staff to be one of the key freedoms of Academy status”. Disgracefully, it goes on to imply that a school that agrees with unions to maintain national conditions might have its Academy application rejected!

National Shop Stewards Network elects Anti-Cuts Campaign Committee

A packed NSSN meeting voted at the end of a well-balanced debate to set up an anti-cuts campaign commitee of six trade unionists plus five representatives from anti-cuts campaigns.

The vote of 305 to 89 (only taken from the trade union delegates attending) showed that there was clear support for the proposal. I was elected on to the commitee to particularly add the voice of teachers, alongside reps from other unions such as PCS, UNISON, FBU and RMT - who will be represented by their National President Alex Gordon.

I was pleased to meet reps that attended from public sector unions in Bexley, Bromley, Grenwich and Lewisham who were all keen to co-ordinate our work in SE London aginst cuts and attacks on terms and conditions and had been impressed by the democratic way in which the debate had been conducted.