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Fair Pay For Teachers - 19 May 2008

The one-day strike on 24th April 2008, the first NUT national strike over pay for 21 years, gave a clear message to theGovernment about the damaging affects of below inflation pay increases year-on-year. Thousands of teachers across England and Wales joined marches, rallies and meetings in support of the Unions campaign. The Campaign Continues The NUTs campaign continues. The next step is a TUC sponsored lobby of Parliament on 9th June. Stay up-to-date with the latest campaign news at www.teachers.org.uk. How You Can Help The work did not end on 24th April. The NUT continues its campaign for Fair Pay for Teachers. Here is how you can help. · Take part in the TUCs representative lobby of Parliament being held on Monday, 9 June (go to www.tuc.org.uk). - We are aiming to send two people to the lobby from each constitutency in Cambridgeshire - If you would like to go, you need to ask your NUT colleagues to cover your lessons - Then you need to ask your headteacher for permission to represent teachers in your constituency at the lobby - If you do intend to go to the lobby, please let the Secretary know: jon.duveen@btinternet.com · Write to your MP, using the electronic lobbying facility on the NUTs website, www.teachers.org.uk. · Make an appointment to see your MP in their local surgery. · Raise the Unions campaign with your local councillor. · Sign the petition and make sure your colleagues at school do the same. · Keep pay and workload issues a live topic of discussion in your staffrooms. · Make sure the Unions campaign is being discussed in your local community. · Get involved in the Union and in local union meetings.

Annual Review 2007/8 - 28 March 2008

Annual review of the activities of the Cambridgeshire Association. The past year has seen the association develop its activities and increase its membership. Unfortunately, one of its longest serving members, Jill Brown died during the year. At the time of her death Jill was an Assistant Secretary of the Association. Jill was a tireless worker representing the Association in many roles over her active life in teaching. We miss Jill’s enthusiasm, knowledge and input into our discussions at committee and general meetings as well as her passion for music. Over the past year the Association has been involved in many activities, which I summarise below: Schools – With the projected growth around Cambridge city the Local Authority (LA) has proposed the development of about twenty new primary schools and five new secondary schools. Most of these schools will be built under the new competition rules the Government has introduced. For Cambridgeshire this means that most of these schools will compete to see who will run them. Critically, the LA will not normally be making a bid for these schools. We have raised our concerns about this process and the removal of these schools from direct control by the LA, the loss of accountability to the elected representatives of the electorate and the possibility that a process of ‘empire building’ by some headteachers could be the result of this process as larger schools bid to run other schools. The first competition to run a primary school in the country is under way as the proposed third such school in Cambourne is now open to bids. One of our major concerns about this process is the six months, added to the planning process to allow the competition to take place. Another issue we have to confront over the next year is the stated intention of many secondary and some primary schools to apply for foundation status or foundation status with a trust. We have made our position clear to the LA that we oppose such moves not just because they remove such schools further from local accountability but also because of the potential for negative changes to our members pay and conditions. We have to ensure that our position is made clear to school managements and governors and that we campaign with parents to oppose such moves. Building Schools for the Future – the plans for the development of the secondary schools in Fenland is moving into the bidding phase, where the LA seeks a private contractor to realise this programme. Whilst we welcome an initiative that will help improve the secondary schools in Fenland we still have major concerns over the funding and affordability of this programme, the extent of the privatisation of some of the services to the schools and the models of education being developed. We will continue to monitor this programme and raise our concerns about it. One particular concern is the way the BSF programme is being applied to the Thomas Clarkson School. Because of the extensive nature of the rebuilding proposed at this school it is being considered for a Private Funding Initiative (PFI). This could have serious repercussions on the future of the school and we will have to monitor its effects if the LA opts for a PFI solution for this school. Cambridgeshire Music – The ability of the Cambridgeshire Music service (formerly CIMA), to balance its budget has been a subject of concern for the LA for the past few years. It has now decided to consult on a proposal to remove musical instrument teachers from School Teachers Pay and Conditions and to establish a new pay and conditions for this group. We have made it clear that we will oppose such a move and have been supported by all the other teaching unions. If the LA presses ahead with its proposal then we may have to seek the support of the National Union to safeguard our members’ pay and conditions. Communications – In order to communicate more effectively with our members, the committee has decided to email information to those members who are prepared to allow the use of their email addresses. About half of the Association is now receiving information by email and is thus able to send concerns and information back to the committee. We hope that over the next year we can get the vast majority of the membership to use email for communicating with the Association. We are also ensuring that the website is regularly updated and has a record of all our meetings and activities. Budgets – The Government has once again given a below inflation settlement to the LA to fund its central services. This has serious implications for the delivery of services by the LA and the continued employment of our members in these services. The situation will worsen if the Government’s intention to keep the funding below inflation for Cambridgeshire is fulfilled. Whilst we recognise the responsibility of the government for the problem we cannot accept any changes to our members’ conditions as a result of this budget problem. Membership – Because of our activity over the past years we have seen a significant growth in our membership to such an extent that this year we have seen an increase in our representation to Annual Conference. We need to ensure that we continue to find ways to contact our members in schools and seek ways to continue to recruit new members and increase participation on the committee. Pay – The below inflation settlement imposed by the Government has caused a feeling of anger amongst teachers and we need to ensure that this is translated into a vote for action in the national ballot. Casework – The further erosion of our working conditions over the past few years has also resulted in an increase in casework and the committee and officers will need to look at ways of extending the knowledge and abilities of our reps, committee and officers to take on some of this increased level of casework. I hope that you will feel able to participate in some of the activities of the NUT either at school or association level as I’m sure that next year will need the Association to be even more active to protect our members that it has been over the past year. Jon Duveen

The Pay Campaign - 27 January 2008

The National Executive met on February 24th and unanimously decided to proceed to a ballot for strike action to resist pay rises less than inflation. The ballot will open on 28th February and close on 31st March. Should the ballot be successful, then a strike would take place on 24th April.

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