NASUWT only 42% voted

[bridgetjonesmassivepants]

Can't believe this. Apparently 90% of those who voted voted to strike but the union can't go ahead with strike action as a 50% threshold is needed.

Why wouldn't you vote? I can understand we will all have different views but if the current situation isn't enough to make you vote what is?

Do we now have to hope that the other unions will do better?

@TheMoth and if those who want to strike have already left, reballoting may not work either.

Yes, I was thinking that. The NAS could well go the way of the old ATL.

They had better not merge with the NEU.

You can join NEU on the picket and still strike- this is from local union officers so I am really confident it is correct.

You can be a member of both, and pay your NEU subs monthly and stop at any time. So you could join NEU for Feb and March and then cancel and go back to NAS.

You could also then vote in any NAS reballots.

It is a difficult situation for the NAS because they clearly have a body of members who feel strongly about striking, and another body of members where it's unclear whether ballots were lost/not counted, they are against striking or what they feel.

No, I meant in terms of the way the ATL was always a bit wet.

I don't agree with the Paul Dix stuff and on my more... challenging... days in school, I think we need to exclude fuck loads more kids, but I feel massively let down by the NAS.

Ofsted look at numbers of exclusions, our school came out very high in a list of those who had excluded the most...

I don't agree with the NEU stance on behaviour, but I also am very concerned about their current president, Daniel Kebede, who may well end up taking over from Kevin and Mary very soon if voted in.

His releasing a statement 'from the NEU' which essentially blamed NATO for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and his personal politics and activism means that I definitely don't want him speaking on my behalf.

(If you are NEU, please look into this leadership election....)

The way some NEU senior people minimise behaviour and spend, in my opinion, a disproportionate amount of time on non- education political issues and whatever hot topic education consultants/lobbyists are pushing is one of the things that prevents me joining.

I don't think it does the profession any favours either. They need to stick to education and workers rights, and to be honest even then need to avoid getting too caught up in things like Ban the Booths.

As a point of information Daniel Kebede isn't currently president, current president is Louise Atkinson. Daniel was president in 2021, though and I believe pretty instrumental in the work the NEU did towards protecting teachers and closing schools then.

The NEU is an internationalist union, with existing stances against things like NATO expansion and in favour of CND and supports educational politics in Palestine.

I understand this might not be to everyone's taste, but I think their point is that the union cares about the world that the students we teach will grow up in.

FWIW, I do think the NEU isn't for everyone, and it will be a shame if the NAS becomes seen as essentially a non-striking union.

As a point of information Daniel Kebede isn't currently president

Ah, when he made his NATO tweet, he appeared to be tweeting in an NEU capacity - certainly the reaction on twitter suggested this.

The NEU is an internationalist union, with existing stances against things like NATO expansion and in favour of CND and supports educational politics in Palestine.

I understand this might not be to everyone's taste

Not so much taste, as politics. The sort of politics he represents reminds me of NUS student politics and the belligerent left wing of Labour that moved in and did so much damage recently.

A lot of people are simply in a union for insurance and the NEU is the biggest.

In our school we have one rep - NEU - and that's why more staff are in that one. Not politics or ideologies.

But nationally the union has shown the strength of its members far more than the other unions at this point.

Indeed, so if you've joined the NEU because you like the rep or it's the biggest union in your school (which is completely fair) you might be pissed off to find the president tweeting stuff like this in your name

(He was president when he tweeted it, and now he wants to be General Secretary)

Yes. Or you might just be pleased that your union balloted to strike. I'm an NEU rep and I know which chats I'm having.

I'm probably the outsider on this thread though as it's headed NASUWT!

The NEU reps I've known in schools have been excellent, much more focused on staff situations and good old fashioned union duties than some of the figureheads.

Yes. Or you might just be pleased that your union balloted to strike.

Indeed, and many seem to be switching to NEU on that basis.

However my fundamental issues with the union itself are what is stopping me from doing so. Others might not care about the politics side, but I do.

As an Nasuwt member, I can support the NEU by not volunteering my union or my intention to work or not on the day until the day itself. I'm not legally allowed to strike, but nor do I have to make their planning for the day easier.

Strangely, in the key stage I teach in, not a single NEU member either voted or intends to strike. So at least half our school may well be shut on the first day of the striking, but likely to then be open on the other days once the leadership team see how many staff do turn up for duty that day.

Worryingly it looks like our right to strike, along with unions in other professions, is under the threat of being eroded, which I've only just found out!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61950028

The question is simply, do you want to strike? If yes = join NEU for 2 months or longer. If no = stay with NASUWT.

You can always go back to NASUWT.

(That's a rhetorical question by the way.)

What will be interesting from my pov is to see how many do join short term purely to strike or whether they leave NASUWT for good.

The question relating to this thread, I mean.

The question is simply, do you want to strike?

Not from my perspective.

I do get why you say this, and I do think a lot of NEU members aren't really aware of the wider politics.

I actually wouldn't want NASUWT to merge with NEU, because I feel like it would also dilute the political position of the NEU as well.

It would also be a real shame if NASUWT became a non striking union. I really hope NAS does re ballot and manages to get past the threshold BUT I do think they will need to be a lot more organised if they want to achieve that. I do think the NEU has been preparing for this for a long time (like, since last summer) and a lot of people put a lot of effort in behind the scenes AND we still only just made threshold!

I'm not sure NASUWT had that level of organisation, and I'm sure the postal strikes didn't help too.

How likely is it the NASUWT will strike if reballoted?

Well if everyone NASUWT that is keen to strike defects to the NEU, then will there be anyone/many left to reballot for a yes to strike ... ?🤷