Tories to axe pay
Socialist Press1980 1980-08-06Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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Only a shortage of Parliamentary time seems likely to stop the Thatcher government throwing down the gauntlet to the teaching unions.
Thatcher has declared her intention to reject a binding arbitration pay award to the teachers of 14-16%, ana to prune it back to a figure between 7-11%.
This desperate move to hold back public sector pay would require the approval of both Houses of Parliament, since it would otherwise infringe the Teachers' Remuneration Act of 1965.
Indeed it is more these legal technicalities than any serious fear of industrial action by the utterly spineless leaders of the teaching unions that has held back the Tory move.
Whether or not the NUT fights back, the Tory moves make it clear that they intend to hold down pay rises throughout the public sector: and the only answer from the unions must be all-out co-ordinated strike action to defeat this government.