Industrial Workers of the World One Big Union

PUBLIC MEETING
Save Leicester Adult Education College!
Stop the privatisation of adult education and save jobs!
7.00pm on Wednesday 9th April
EVERYONE WELCOME!

Organised jointly by Industrial Workers of the World LAEC job branch 620,
Leicester general members’ branch of the IWW, UCU members and other staff
at LAEC.

London IWW's education workers' committee meeting. all education workers and interested others are welcome to contribute. IWW members and prospective members in the education sector also welcome.

We've just seen the biggest set of education strikes in years. Lecturers striking over pay, teachers in the NUT striking over restructuring, clerical staff in UNISON striking for their pensions. And what has been the response of the unions? The lecturers have been sold down the river for a fraction of a percentage more, teachers have been forced to fight school by school, clerical and support staff ordered back to work on the promise of further talks.

The following is a report from an IWW member who works in the education sector, written just after a public meeting in the sunmmer of 2006.

This evening Sally and I attended a meeting in Oldham to discuss plans to create Academy schools in Oldaham. This will mean the merging of four schools into two - this includes a school we both work at (that's nepotism for you:)).

The government's plan to impose a 2% cap on public sector pay rises, coupled with their proposals to have three-year pay deals in the public sector has led to outrage among workers and unions. Teachers have been particularly vocal, with the NUT taking an unusually strong line against these measures. Even the highly conservative Police Federation has come out against the plans, which would see their pay rise by only 1.9%.

The IWW and friends won their epic 8-month battle to prevent the closure of Crichton Campus, Dumfriesshire, part of the University of Glasgow. In February, the university refused to take new admissions for courses based at Crichton, as it planned to close its Arts and Humanities faculties there at the end of this academic year.

... for Summer ... er ... Autumn and Winter and maybe next year too!

Teachers in England and Wales, working in a job which has for a long time been be-devilled by divided unions, are beginning to wake up to the reality of yet another voice which purports to speak for them in the shape of the General Teaching Council [GTC]. This body was set up by Blair and Blunkett after a wide consultation process which seemed to miss most of us out.