Teachers' leaders ght

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in conference opposing the use decision to support the May 14 of public funds for assisted Day of Action with half-day places; the need for united strikes and other "appropriate Harsh reality intruded into this year's NUT conference, knocking into second place the routine junketing of delegates and friends.

: Even speeches made by members of the Executive reflected the growing concern of the membership at the erosion of jobs, wages and their control of what they teach.

Nevertheless, the proceedings did take place in a somewhat unreal atmosphere with the 1979 wage claim (not to mention the 1980 claim) still outstanding and with the Clegg report conveniently unpublished until the delegates are safely dispersed.

Desperately trying to hold up some example of action that they have condoned in the past year, the Executive called on Nottingham teacher • Eileen Crosbie to address conference on the first day.

She is suspended for refusing to take a class of 40 nursery pupils with the assistance of only one nursery nurse.

Rolling strikes

Since January more than 450 teachers from 35 schools in Nottingham have been out on rolling strikes in her support.

The Executive then obviously considered they had done their bit and refused to allow a suspension of standing orders for delegates from Avon to report on their action. • This was one of the relativerly few occasions when crude right wing witch-hunting. was resorted to by an Executive • member.

The Executive has been greatly weakened in its anti-left crusade by the retirement of veteran. Stalinist right winger Max Morris, while his protege Malcolm Horne succeeded in only making a fool of himself.

The other reason for the much less sharp exchanges is that the policies being put forward by those who have long wanted to tight the cuts, have begun to be recognised py members as more and more "realistic" and necessary in the face of the Tory onslaught.

It should be said that the Socialist Teachers Alliance, despite major political weaknesses, has done a lot of patient, careful work, and has broken down some of the previous hostility.

For example, if a delegate from East London had moved an important amendment to the Executive report on the penultimate day of conference in previous years there would have been groans and hissing.

Blair Peach This year, however, the addendum which called attention to the death of Blair Peach and to the delay in calling a pubiic enquiry, was accepted by the Executive and was carried. (We, of course, have called consistently for a workers inquiry into the murder). As usual, most of the Executive motions were carried, and they introduced five memoranda.

The salaries. memorandum 198182 was suitably vague, talking only of "increases in salaries for all teachers to improve their real standard of living" although it did promise to get "a new salary structure"

A useful discussion did take place, however, around the fight for decent wages for new teachers and the defence of wages through a sliding scale on an index to be decided by the union itself.

Delegates pointed out that the memorandum on nursery education was produced as a white-wash job for continuing to take no action against closures.

One delegate from Witney and Burford pointed out that when she was involved in the occupation of a nursery class 'in Oxford two years ago. the Executive had opposed a sUSpension of standing orders even to discuss it!

The Executive did get defeated on their memorandum on union finance and subscriptions and their rule change on the calling of special conferences on salaries-which would allow three quarters of the Executive to decide not to call a conference-was thrown out.

So too was a move to use the strike fund for administration.

There was general agreement action and fraternal relations action""

Parents picketing the nursery class with other teaching unions; fr the rights of members in speci education to take industri action; and against governmer attempts to link conditions i service to a salary settiement.

There was heated debate c the motion on racialism.

The Executive carried a amendment to cut out from tr main motion a pledge support for members refusir to work with those engaged i racialist activities and to ru such activities incompatib with membership of the NUT.

It also deleted affiliation 1 the ANL, a call for the disbanı ing of the SPG and oppositio to racialist legislation.

The basic demand for the right to free abortion demand was yet again attacked by the Executive who even refused to declare its opposition to the Corrie Bill.

Half-day strikes

The pressure that the Executive feels under came out clearly in the address to confer. ence by General Secretary. Fred Jarvis, who announced. the of suspended Notting This was, unfortunately, not an instruction and local associations are left to decide for themselves what action to take.

Fear of members

Jarvis felt compelled to add:

"This is not meant to be a generul strike to bring down the government. It is an exercise of the right of working people to withdraw their labour to show their opinion of the government's policies."

This fear of the membership moving too far and too fast for its dynamic (!) leadership shone through his hasty reminder that Jarvis teacher Eileen Crosbie the NUT is politically unaligned and not against this government because of its political complexion.

How teachers are to fight to defend jobs and wages under a government of "this complexion' was not made clear.

The membership will quickly begin to learn, however, as it moves into struggle against the Tories and sees more clearly the need to fight against a leadership which is nothing more than an obstacle to that fight.

CK