NUT Follow

IAN MURCH is standing for general secretary of the biggest teachers' union, the NUT, with the support of the left in the union. Ballot papers go out to a quarter of a million NUT members next week. The government is desperate to see elected the current NUT deputy general secretary, who is for partnership with New Labour. Ian Murch spoke to Socialist Worker about his alternative vision for the union.

THE NATIONAL Union of Teachers (NUT) has maintained a course for bitter confrontation with the government. And it has called for a wider alliance of unions to fight New Labour's "modernisation" of the public sector. The NUT conference in Harrogate unanimously refused to compromise its opposition to the government's drive to bring in teaching on the cheap by replacing qualified teachers with underpaid assistants.

ANGRY PARENTS and children joined a lobby of Barnsley Labour councillors called by the NUT and Unison unions last Tuesday. Barnsley council is applying to replace a secondary and two primary schools with the country's first "three to 19 academy". This would take local schools out of the local education system. GEORGE ARTHUR

TEACHERS IN the NUT union in Croydon will strike on Monday in protest at funding cuts and downgrading of jobs. A strike ballot saw a 42 percent turnout and 82 percent of those who voted said yes to a half day of industrial action.

REPRESENTATIVES from NUT teachers' union associations met in Leeds on Saturday to discuss how to build the campaign to elect Ian Murch as general secretary of the NUT. Doug McAvoy, who has been general secretary for the last 15 years, is due to retire in June. The NUT has been painted as part of the awkward squad over the last year.

THE NEWS that the teachers' NUT union will not be going ahead with a boycott of SATs tests in primary schools is a blow to tens of thousands of teachers and parents.

DOUG McAVOY, general secretary of the NUT teachers' union, retires in June. Some 70 NUT activists met in Nottingham on Saturday to try to choose a candidate of the left to stand for the position.

SOME 50 teachers and parents attended an rally to oppose SATs tests in Bristol last week. Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset NUT teachers' union divisions organised the meeting. Jon Illingworth, prospective left candidate for general secretary of the NUT, spoke alongside primary school teacher Suzie Coggles, children's author Pat Thompson and school student Sophie North.

MEMBERS OF Leeds NUT union were set to strike on Thursday of this week after an 81 percent ballot in favour of action over the threat of compulsory redundancies. Some schools will be closing as a result of the action and picket lines are being planned across the city.

SOME 59 NUT union members at Crofton School in Lewisham, south London, took strike action on Thursday of last week. They are fighting against the redundancies of three teachers on annual contracts at the school.

SOME 175 teachers, parents and school governors launched a national campaign against SATs tests at a conference in London last Saturday. John Illingworth, a primary school head teacher from Nottinghamshire and a former president of the NUT union, summed up the confident mood of the day. He told the conference, "I have never felt as optimistic as I do now that we can get rid of these national damaging tests imposed on children. "East Midlands TV did a phone poll and found 95 percent of respondents against the SATs. We know the government will hit back hard to maintain SATs. But we should be confident that this is a campaign we can win."

"NUT NONSENSE". That is how Tony Blair dismissed the decision of teachers in the NUT union to ballot on boycotting tests for seven, 11 and 14 year olds. Blair's testing mania is damaging the health of young children. Research this week found that over one third of seven year olds in England were seriously stressed by the SATs tests.