Anti-Union LibDems

[Udo Erasmus]

NUT strike will damage the education of children - Laws
23 April 2008

Commenting on tomorrow’s proposed strike by the NUT, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws said:

"I do not support this strike. I am concerned that it will damage the education of children at a key time of the year, inconvenience many parents and undermine the image of the teaching profession.

"I understand the NUT’s view that the pay award is low in relation to inflation, but it is the outcome of an independent pay review process and it has been accepted by the other teaching unions.

"This strike comes at a time when almost all public sector workers are receiving modest pay rises, and it seems very unlikely to change the Government’s mind.

"The strike is on the basis of a very low turnout of NUT members. Unions should consider if a higher turnout is appropriate before taking strike action.

"Currently the NUT is the only teaching union which is outside the Government’s ‘social partnership’ with the other teaching unions, and I would like to see Ed Balls inviting the NUT into this partnership.

"Given the importance of education, we should be trying to move to a presumption that teaching unions will not take strike action.

"The Government should open talks with all unions to see how the independent pay review process could be strengthened to help both sides to agree such an approach."

Applicability: this item refers to England and Wales. Due to devolution, detailed policy may be different in other areas of the UK.

 

[lewislewis]

It's an idiosyncracy of devolution that although education is devolved to Wales, teachers' pay for both England & Wales is decided by London.

Not that the teaching unions want pay to be devolved to Wales, it'd put a huge extra strain on the Assembly's budget particularly because of the influence the unions have in Cardiff Bay and that they'd be getting good rates.

Does anyone know what happened with this in Scotland? I wouldn't be surprised if the SNP paid the teachers a fair deal and avoided the strike.

 

[belboid]

Does anyone know what happened with this in Scotland? I wouldn't be surprised if the SNP paid the teachers a fair deal and avoided the strike.

there was a three year pay deal set up last year, not sure if it was before or after the elections, probably after. No strike in Northern Ireland either, or at English or Welsh 'academies'

 

[DJ Squelch]

NUT strike will damage the education of children - Laws
23 April 2008

I am concerned that it will damage the education of children at a key time of the year, inconvenience many parents

I wonder if he's a supporter of the "making St. George's Day a public holiday" idea.

 

[liampreston]

we are not anti-union. I think our standpoint on this is quite clear - there are times when the right to strike is absolutely right and vital for the advancement of workers' rights. But that right must be balanced against the needs of customers and consumers. I note the NUT are the only teaching union currently advancing this current call for a higher than average pay increase - they have had thier say and their strike action, now it's time for the two sides in this argument to meet.

 

[shagnasty]

Don't you just love it when you get the parties official line its like a reply you would get from an mp

 

[Hocus Eye.]

The thing to understand about the LibDems is that they have no basic philosophy or values. They just want your vote. They are not a pro-trade union party in any sense, being historically capitalist and free-market orientated, but on the other hand they will want the vote of people in areas who might be pro-union so will try to appear sympathetic on the door step in such areas.

The LibDems will say whatever they think is needed to get a vote at National, Constiuency, ward, street, postcode, or doorstep level. They do lots of research to find out what people are concerned about in particular locations.

They call this 'pavement politics'. They invented it in 1973 when their fortunes were particularly low, and the idea was to promote 'tactical voting'. Part of their method is to produce leaflets which show graphs in the form of histograms of the vote in an area purporting to represent the vote at the last election. This will be accompanied with some text that suggests that only a Liberal vote will make any difference at the next election. They do not differentiate between local council, county council and national elections but will use whatever information apparently puts them in a good light. The reason they use histograms in their leaflets is that the width of the bar for each party gives the impression of an extra dimension creating the illusion of a mass of voters represented by the area of the bar. Of course the real facts are one dimensional and are just a point on a straight line graph.

The LibDems are completely ruthless and have no values at all apart from getting your vote. They are not and have never been pro-union. That would put them on in their view to the wrong side of the class debate of which they deny the existence. They are utter bastards.

 

[Wolveryeti]

^ Agree

I haven't got the faintest idea what they stand for. It seems to change all the time, like a political kind of lucky dip.

 

[lewislewis]

Where I live they're Plaid but without the nationalism.

Hocus Eye is right. When they're warming up a ward ready for election they are most likely to distribute 'focus' leaflets which have zero content and just asks voters to fill in their priorities. They then supposedly adopt those priorities. The trick is that very few people reply anyway, but it sticks in people's heads that the Lib Dems are shoving the most leaflets through their doors and thus must be working quite hard.

The 'two horse race' and dodgy bar graphs are Lib Dem trademarks. Sometimes they do attract a handful of good local people it has to be said, but you're equally likely to get a wierd bunch.

 

[glenquagmire]

I note the NUT are the only teaching union currently advancing this current call for a higher than average pay increase - they have had thier say and their strike action, now it's time for the two sides in this argument to meet.

Yes, because the other two unions are basically filthy scabs who wouldn't dare to go on strike if the government threatened to halve their pay and arse rape them all with chair legs.