Teachers marching in central London last July (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Teachers at the NEU union conference in Bournemouth voted on Thursday to hold a snap poll on the government’s pay offer when it’s presented. And, if a majority reject it with a high enough turnout, the union will push for a formal ballot for strikes.
The vote came after NEU members overwhelmingly voted for strikes over pay in a consultative ballot last week.
The NEU national executive proposed a motion, debated in private session, that argued the union should not move to a formal ballot this year.
But delegates fought to go further than the leadership. An amendment instructs the NEU to “present the government’s pay and funding offer in a snap poll, and if rejected with a convincing turnout, move to a formal ballot”.
A large minority—37 percent—voted more clearly in favour of moving towards a formal strike ballot in the wake of the consultative one.
It shows a huge layer of rank and file activists—almost four in ten delegates—want a more militant fight than the union leadership.
Paul, an NEU member from Tower Hamlets, told Socialist Worker, “Of course it would have been better if going for a formal ballot in any case passed.
“But the size of the vote was a substantial result. It shows that the best activists in the union want to go further than the NEU union leadership. A serious number of people want to get stuck in and push for national industrial action.”
Daniel Kebede, NEU union general secretary, took to the conference floor on Wednesday to argue against a formal strike ballot. Many delegates told Socialist Worker that this was an unusual move as general secretaries don’t usually intervene in debates and speak at the end of the conference.
Delegates on the conference floor during the Thursday morning debate told Socialist Worker there was a huge desire to take hard-hitting action.
Debs, an NEU member, told Socialist Worker that the debate “shows a clear mood for action”. “Nobody is prepared to sit back and just let the government do what it wants,” she said. “The desire to wait for Labour is not as big as the leadership thinks it is.”
Debs added, “We need to make sure we are fighting every single battle in every school that we possibly can. Get ballots live and open, and teachers striking in individual schools to show we are committed to fighting.”
Around 260 delegates attended a fringe meeting on Wednesday night called, “Educators Say—Yes To A Ballot.” The meeting was supported by 60 NEU districts—nearly 33.3 percent of districts.
A substantial layer wants to go further than the NEU leadership. NEU activists need to organise and grow this layer of rank and file activists who want to build a fightback now. And they need to throw themselves into building the biggest possible turnout in the snap poll and formal strike ballot.
But where there is repression, there is resistance.
Strikers are demanding an unallocated €1.6 billion go towards workers' pay rise
London march on 27 October
Another day of mass resistance
