Weighell bleats at rises NUT must throw out Jarvis's pay betrayal

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(against growing dis- empty slogan •Fight for SUBSCRIBE EIGHT BUNCHOLD to Socialist Pręss me trial sub/six months/one year Play struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies This weekend the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is holding a Special Salaries Conference at Central Halls, Westminster.

General Secretary Fred Jarvis, and the NUT Executive hope to persuade delegates to swaliow the pay deal cooked-up and agreed with Tory Education Secretary, Mark Carlisie.

Teachers would then receive a measly 9.3% increase overall in their pay cheques.

This deal' effectively abandons an original claim for an immediate 36.5% increase on the salaries' bill which is necessary merely. to restore living standards to the April 1975 level.

It also involves the accep: tance of a 'staged' increase with study by Professor Clegg's 'Pay Comparability Commission' Sell-out is, in short, a fraud a sell out, and must be rejected by all teachers seriously concerned with the defence of living stan dards and, in the last analysis the defence of the education service itself.

This year NUT leaders had to put on their 'militant face in order to contain and divert growing anger over pay.

From Easter onwards they organised a futile and demoral ising withdrawal of goodwill action-and then called it off as demands for strike action began to roll into the headquarters at Hamilton House.

Local associations in the big cities (which are heavily discriminated against in the NUT's conference representation system) are particularly moving towards' a militant position.

Now the bureaucrats are claiming belief testified by the large numbers of protest resolutions passed) that their new deal is 'the best possible' At the NUT conference at Easter in Scarborough, delegates in support of the Workers Socialist League opposed the union leadership's treachery on pay from the platform.

They distributed material warning or Just sucn a seir out. on t - L Houghton' (the major 1974 award that has been used as a standard by teachers since), the Socialist Press 'Conference Special' warned that the union leaders were only interested in the 'terms of reference' for the Comparability Commission.

The NUT is now in a considerable crisis. But nothing is further from the minds of the Trial sub (UK 10 issues, onl Six months One year ..

Europe:

Six months Rest of the Six months Please send of Socialist Name. .

Address Send to Socialist Hill, London NW5 Jarvis Against the chatter and the inan a serious struggle.

RATI Press. I enclose ..

Official literature from Hamilton House even extols the virtues of sending the claim to the 'Pay Comparability Commis sion' by pointing out that if this fails to deliver the goods the case could go from there ...to arbitration!

But, again, as the Workers Socialist League has pointed out, only an all out struggle to smash the professional association' mentality reinforced by the union leaders and for the necessary industrial action and mobilisation can defend teachers' living standards.

Sabre-rattling

Jarvis and Co. have worked all out to betray the struggle. Now they offer only sabrerattling about the terrible things they will do if things haven't improved in 1980!

In last week's The Teacher (newspaper of the NUT) he blustered and begged at the same time:

"Since Mrs. Thatcher has reaffirmed her party's committment (!) to the Houghton principles and said she is aware of what has happened to teachers' salaries in recent years we are entitled to expect that there will be no shilly-shallying in sanctioning the full restora tion of Houghton by September 1980. I predict there will be an explosion in the education service if that does not happen".

Jarvis's touching faith in the Tories' 'committments' and his mealy-mouthed servility in general, threaten to cost him members.

The National Association of School Masters/Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT)the smaller rival union is making a meal of the impending .50 £5.00 £9.00 £6.50 Yet the NAS/UWT leaders are a thoroughly reactionary group led by Terry Casey.

Teachers as a whole can now place no trust in the words of the hyposites, opportunists, fakers; careerists, scoundrels and lackeys in the bureaucracy of either union.

Delegates at this weekend's conference must kick out Jarvis's plan-but not in order to ally with the leaders of NAS/ UWT.

Strike action on a national basis must be urgently prepared and taken, calling on other sections of the trade union movement with claims in for solidarity.

In this way teachers can act as the spearhead of the movement on wages that is certain to threaten this Tory government as it threatened its Labour predecessor.

This is the first step that must be taken on the road for the building of a principled leadership in the teachers' unions.

*Reject Jarvis's betrayal! Reject Jarvis! All out for the full claim!

Weighell:

There is no doubt that the Tories regard such people and in particular NHS doctors and consultants as useful allies in the coming spate of cuts and devastation in the Health Service.

This is why they are so keen to "reverse an erosion in morale" among the most highly paid professional workers, while London Underground train crews are refused an improvement on a 10.3% pay offer on basic rates of as low as £45.

A FURTHER cash bonanza for dentists could be on the way if a report issued last week by the National Economic Development office were implemented.

It proposes the abolition of VAT on sweets-to allow the British confectionary industry to compete with foreign manutacturers.

This would no doubt assist British youth and workers to compete for leadership of the world league on tooth decayand British dentists to coin in still further loot.

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