Elect Martin Powell-Davies: 

Defending Teachers, Defending Education

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Programme for teachers

SPEECH BY MARTIN POWELL-DAVIES

NUT ANNUAL CONFERENCE HUSTINGS , Sat. April 10th 2004

"President, Conference,

My election would signal to this Government, to the trade union movement, and to teachers across England and Wales that, at long last, the NUT has a General Secretary who will match words with action.

A teachers’ leader on a teacher’s salary - in touch with the pressures on classroom teachers – and prepared to do something about them.

And it’s high time we had such a leadership.

Because the relentless stress of working in a divided, underfunded education system has already driven too many of our colleagues from the classroom.

And worse is to come – an impossible choice between pensions and health, staffrooms divided by performance pay, more privatisation and polarisation of education, thousands of jobs at stake by budget cuts in the guise of "remodelling".

All this from a Government that has lied about war but is certainly lying about education.

And unless we mobilise our members, link up with parents and fellow trade unionists in a serious campaign to defend public services, then their "Blue Skies" nightmare will become a reality.

But that is precisely what we have failed to do for so long. At every crucial battle over the last decade, NUT members have been marched up the hill only for the present leadership to retreat.

That has got to change – and our members are looking for a change.

The question is in this election – who will really provide it ?

I am confident that it will be my campaigning record, my clear programme for change that will stand out and inspire NUT members to take note of this election.

Because, I may have come late into this race but my bold approach, my appeal to a new generation of teachers has already got an enthusiastic response.

Where I have been given the opportunity to speak at hustings meetings, more often than not, I have won the nomination – not my colleagues, despite all their resources and their supposed "experience".

Because classroom teachers rightly ask – what have those responsible for leading the Union over the last decade got to show for that "experience" ? Their legacy is one of failure.

I will be a real break from those failures, a candidate with proven experience of the painstaking work needed to build campaigns, to enthuse NUT members to look up from their planning and preparation and get involved in the Union.

I will be a GS that seeks to utilise the experience and initiative of every member – national officials certainly, but, most of all, by going out to schools and Local Associations to get the vital input from members, school reps and Association Officers.

I will be a General Secretary that instead of vetoing Conference policy, seeks to implement it: - action to limit workload, defend pay and pensions, oppose SATS and remodelling.

And I’ll be a GS that will campaign for Unity – but Unity in Action.

That means winning over our colleagues – in teaching and support staff unions – to withdraw from the dangerous deals they have signed-up to.

It also means working with everyone in the Union determined to make a real change for teachers and education – but not at any cost. If, once again, the Executive majority seek to block the action agreed by Conference, then I will make this abundantly clear to members and campaign for an Executive that will stand firm.

Because we cannot afford the next decade to prove as disastrous for education as the last one.

The National Union of Teachers has the strength to make sure that it isn’t – but it needs a leadership that is up to the task.

My election will be a decisive step in winning that change.

Then, together, we can make sure we stand firm for teachers and education at last."

 
email martin@electmartin.org.uk