As you all know I no longer blog - unless something really makes my blood boil which it hasn't for a long time. However the decision by ATL to join the strike action on 30th June has really wound me up. I did vote in the ballot and I did vote No but sadly I was outnumbered.
Anyway I have today cancelled my membership of ATL and I thought I'd publish the letter I sent here so as to explain my reasons clearly.
"Dear Sir / Madam,
Membership No: --------
Branch: --------
I am writing as I wish to terminate my membership of your union with immediate effect.
I joined ATL as it had a strong 127 year history of not striking. I feel industrial action should always be a last resort - used only when people's civil liberties are under attack or, especially in the case of education, where you are unable to perform your job correctly.
That ATL has decided to strike over an issue of personal finance, one which will affect every person not only in this country but the world around, is utterly gobsmackingly shocking to me. For 127 years you have chosen not to strike over classroom conditions, equal pay for men and women, teaching and learning standards and the impositions of the national curriculum. I cannot believe that the straw that broke the camel's back comes down to the fact that teacher's pensions - which were already far sweeter than anything the rest of workers on equivalent wages receive - are being reduced in a time of economic crisis.
This strike is pure selfishness. It will not change the governments mind. It will affect teaching and learning. It will cause parents to have to spend money on childcare or lose a days pay taking the day off work.
Globally the world is facing the problem of an ageing population. Retirement ages will have to rise, pension plans are not sustainable, changes need to be made. This is not an argument you can or should win.
You have decided to break with your tradition which was the only reason I chose to join you and in my opinion you have chosen to do so over the most petty of issues that has faced the teaching profession in the last 127 years. As such please terminate my membership with immediate effect. I shall be joining The Voice - who have an actual written policy of not striking so I trust them to stick to their word.
Yours faithfully,
Caroline Hunt"
17 June 2011
Why I am Leaving ATL
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3 comments:
Characteristically forthright, Miss Hunt. Just to briefly stick my two pennies in:
- What's the point of joining a union solely on the basis that they will never, ever strike? This particular strike aside, surely one of the most powerful weapons a union has in the event of an egregious attack on its members is to strike? That's not to say it should be exercised lightly or trivially but it should most certainly exist!
- To dismiss this strike as being 'selfish' is quite offensive. Teachers don't enter the profession for financial gain; there are many more lucrative careers they could have chosen. But they instead chose to earn a modest salary and work towards a favourable pension in retirement. The latter is being taken away.
- What is the alternative to strike action? Michael Gove has been talking about getting back to the table to negotiate. I'm confused by this: they've already decided what they're going to do. There is no scope for negotiation. If there was a chance for a genuine bargaining over the changes then we should talk, but I suspect that there is not.
- Much of your article reflects Osborne's baloney that 'we're all in this together'. If we genuinely were sharing the pain then I'd be quite happy to take a cut. But we're not. We're seeing cuts to the most vulnerable people in society with no clear diminution to the living standards of the wealthiest - for example the Cabinet, or the financiers who caused the whole godforsaken mess in the first place.
- On any basis, the proposals are unfair. Particularly for those in the latter stages of their careers who have seen the goalposts change after they've been operating under the understanding that they would be taken care of in their retirement.
I'm not a massive fan of strike action. But I think this one is justified. Stand up for your fellow teachers!
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