Teachers Against Cuts

Scan page 7

A discussion on the transitional programme and the nature of the Labour Party dominated the first day of the Socialist Teachers' Conference held in London on 25/26th October.

About 80 teachers from all over Britain took part and discussed a fight against Healey's measures, which mean cuts and unemployment, an attitude to the Rank and File organisation, and resolutions for NUT conference.

The main resolution on action against the cuts as amended by the WSL was overwhelmingly passed. The Action Programme called for a fight in locally elected committees of workers, in the NUT, in other teachers' unions and in the Labour Party for a) a firm commitment against any cuts being accepted at all, and all past cuts to be reversed, as part of a programme of public works under the control of the Trade Union movement. Such a programme must guarantee 1) jobs for all trained teachers 2) rescinding of the closures of all teacher training colleges closed or threatened with closure. b) a trade union inquiry into the local and national extent of the cuts and proposed future cuts through the opening of the books of the LEAs to local committees of trade unionists. This must be done in conjunction with local conferences of trade unions and community organisations to obtain a clear estimate of the social need for education in the localities the basis for a workers' plan to defend and improve the educational facilities. c) We should argue that all education expenditure should be linked to the rate of inflation (sliding scale of educational expenditure) so its real value is not eroded and that this should be the demand of the trade union movement. d) That all unemployed, eg. teachers ancillary workers, building workers, school leavers be recruited and organised by the trade unions with free membership and full trade union rights. On this basis unions must tight for full employment for all teachers and other workers, the reduction in class size in schools and a sliding scale of benefits for all unemployed workers as part of a programme of public works.

Trades Councis must set up unemployment sub-committees which must include unemployed workers. Unemployed workers must be supported in their struggle to organise and fight for these demands.

We call on the union leaderships, including the NUT to organise a contingent of unemployed workers on the 26th November e) We should campaign for the nationalisation of educational supplies (this is already Labour Party policy) whose profiteering hinders every aspect of education in schools.

In particular we should campaign in the NUT for widespread support for the North West TUC demonstration against unemployment on November 26th and try to organise a contingent of unemployed and employed teachers where possible supported by local associations. "

Affiliation of the NUT to the Labour Party was considered to be important to extend the fight on But then it came to deciding on solutions for the NUT conference on the Sunday it was clear that the conference, and especially the IMG, had no intention of actually fighting for this programme. It remains for them just an interesting discussion among "socialists"

IMG proposals for the NUT conference contained not one transitional demand and were full of the usual vague "to urge solidarity action". They : Lso called for a further conference "in order to thoroughly work out a Nursery teacher facing the sack putting off in the same way as the reformists the fight on programme -always until yet another meeting, and preferably sometime in the distant future. This reflected their complete capitulation to the IS rank-and-file-ist conception of finding the lowest common denominator of political awareness on which to forge some sort of spurious "unity"

In practice the IMG tail ends the IS by continuing its work within the IS Rank-and-File front organisation. It does not carry out a consistent fight on the demands of the transitional programme which would jeopardise unity in the Is inside Rank-and-File.

The resolutions for example from Birmingham Rank-and-File to the Birmingham Association of the NUT to go forward to the NUT conference contained not one single transitional demand.

An amendment to a salaries motion calling for a sliding scale of wages, based on a working-class cost of living index, drawn up by trade unionists and housewives committees came from the WSL. Although the IMG formally seconded it, no one from the IMG spoke in support of it.

The IS, who opposed it, lined up with the right wing openly on the grounds that it was "impractical".

The complete separation of theory from practice, of discussion from action which typifies the centrists of the IS and IMG thus emerged most clearly at this conference. Whether the pro gramme adopted by the conference is ever taken into the teachers' unions clearly depends on the fight of the WSL and those who begin to break from the sterile propagandism of IS and IMG. Far from the conference itself sharperinte problem on inciples