The real suicidal plunge had begun. Yet the worst was to come. Pay and working conditions had always been negotiated separately. In August, dur ing the school holidavs. a maior ste towards a trade-off of these two aspects of negotiation was realized at a meeting between the union negotiators and representatives of mainly Labour-Party Education becomes a major political issue
Even then, this sell-out was so widely ridiculed that the executive had to renegotiate a new formula, this time definitely linking pay and conditions — known as the ACAS settlement. 3
Throughout this period, the Tories had been on the defensive. A crisis had developed with school students quently being sent home through strike or no-cover action. Education had become a major political issue, with widespread support for the teachers coming from other trade unions and the
The ACAS deal, however, opened up an opportunity for the Tories to regain ground lost during the dispute. Baker introduced an Education Bill incorporating all the clauses from the ACAS with only one significant addition, namely that teachers would have their negotiating facilities abolished. It was quite clear that this course was opened up by the NUT leadership.
At a special conference of the NUT which followed, the only surprising thing was the scale of the opposition to this deal. A card vote produced 45 per cent of delegates voting against ACAS. This was followed in a ballot with 42 per cent opposed, despite the executive charging their opponents of
. This opposition was primarily from the Teachers' Association (Inner London NUT) and the STA.
In the confusion Baker was able to force through his legislation while teachers waited for an effective response from their leaders. It wasn't to come. The centrepiece of this union's "assault" on Baker was a petition aimed at that most democratic of bodies, the House of Lords!
The membership saw things differently. They wanted immediate action. So ILTA called for a one day strike. The bureaucracy went berserk, and suspended the entire ILTA council from union membership — allegedly for breaking the rules of the union. Despite this, on January 13, on one of the coldest days this century, about 3,000 NUT members marched through London with the majority of ILTA members on strike.
At a subsequent union hearing all ILTA members were re-instated. The political victory, vindicating ILTA's action, was achieved when the national strike action against Baker.
This was the background to the 1987 conference. It had the most unbelieva ble prelude. The national officers of the union appealed against the lenient sentences meted out on ILTA members. As a result three were expelled and five suspended - all STA members.
The bureaucracy needed the ILTA leadership out of the way for the coming conference. Their bankrupt low-level strategy was exposed. They had banked on pursuading the electorate to accept that all would be well in education if Neil Kinnock was prime minister. As Labour are unable to overturn the Tories, the bureaucracy have entered into a crisis in which only the left is giving any answers in the form of proposals for action. The bureaucracy have only been able to answer this by
The bureaucracy will not feel comforted by the fact that the left emerged intact and with wider support than before. Teachers are still taking action, often unofficially. The demand for the reinof ILTA officers is well supported, as is the demand for effective action against Baker.
At the NUT conference, Giles Radice — Labour's spokesperson on education — called at a fringe meeting for a moratorium on action in the run up to the general election. The Labour Party leaders as a whole have failed to take up the fight for education in a positive way, leaving this cause to be championed solely by left wingers such as Member of Parliament Dennis Skinner. Had they done so, the Tories would have been unable to return to centrestage on education, and Labour's own popularity would have increased rather than declined. *
The STA is the leading class-struggle left force inside the NUT, including both independents and supporters of Socialist Action and Socialist Outlook. STA supporters are also now active in the second largest teaching union, the NAS/UWT. 2. Education in Scotland is organized and legislated for independently under the authority of the Secretary of State for Scotland 3. ACAS — Arbitration and Conciliation Service, set up to arbitrate industrial disputes by the 1974-79 Labour Government.
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