NUT Annual Conference

Conference Report 2009

Conference 2009 was in Cardiff. Notts had a large delegation – Chris Gibbon, Bec Frankland, Lesley Thacker, Becky Williams, Rob Illingworth from Central Notts, Giovanni Russo, Alan Darley, Claire Jenkins, Paul O’Neill, Maria Fawcett, Nick Raine from South Notts, Ivan Wels and Louise Regan from Division and Liam Conway from CBC.

Louise, Becky, Ivan, Claire and Rob spoke in debates. Louise moved the Ofsted amendment, Rob seconded it. Claire spoke in support of the LGBT motion in the Equalities Conferences Section, Becky seconded the Salaries Policy amendment. Ivan seconded the Public Sector Pay Freeze.

Conference was chaired by Martin Reed. Saturday morning session started with Martin Reeds presidential address. This was an hour and ten minutes long!

The first section of Conference was Organising and Membership. In this section motion 15 Casework for Members and Motion 16 Organising and Recruitment were both carried as amended.

In the next section Resource Management motion 18 Regional and Wales Office Staffing Levels caused a bit of debate and the amendment by the executive was lost

on a card vote however the main motion was then lost.

At the end of the morning session Kevin Nolan one of the sacked Visteon workers addressed Conference. He gave a moving speech and it was one of the highlights of Conference. A collection raised nearly £2,000 for the workers.

In the afternoon session business moved to the Secondary Education Section. Motion 20 an Anti Academies motion was carried as amended.

We then moved to the Education General Section. Debate opened with the Executive Priority Motion jointly agreed with the NAHT calling for a SATs boycott. This was carried unanimously.

Motion 21 SATs, Testing and League Tables strengthened the priority motion and was also carried as amended.

Motion 22 on Ofsted was carried as amended. Louise and Rob moved and seconded the amendment to this motion. It was again carried unanimously but as we have seen over the past few years this has not delivered action on abolishing Ofsted.

Motion 23 Opposition to Academies and Trust Schools was also carried as amended. Also Motion 25 Democracy in Education and motion 26 Eradicating Poverty were also carried as amended.

The private session followed this when Ian Murch gave an informative account of the current situation for the Union financially.

On Sunday morning Nick Raine was awarded his RUMDA (Regional Union Membership Development Award). This was well deserved following the hard work he has put in to increasing our membership over the year. Liam Conway and Ivan Wels were awarded the NUMDA (National Union Membership Development Award.)

The first area of discussion was Employment Conditions and Rights. The first debate in this was around the Memorandum of the Executive – Teacher Mental Health Working Party. The recommendations of the working party were agreed. Claire Jenkins spoke during this debate.

Motion 35 No Cover and a Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom was carried as amended as were Motion 36 Teachers Rights and Motion 37 Workload Pay and Class Size a Comprehensive Strategy. Ivan seconded the Teachers Rights motion.

On Monday the first session was Special Educational Needs where Motion 41 Pupil Referral Units and Exclusions was carried as amended.

We then had the question and answer session with Christine Blower the Acting General Secretary who managed to answer all the questions submitted by delegates!

We then moved to the Strategy, Finance and Communications Section where motion 43 the Impact of the Economic Crisis and Motion 44 Defending Public Services were carried as amended.

In the next section Salaries, Superannuation and Education Economics Motion 45 Salary Policy was carried as amended and Becky Williams gave a moving speech when seconding the amendment.

We then moved to the Education Primary/ Early Years Section where Jane Walton from Wakefield gave a brilliant speech on the ludicrous bureaucracy in Early Years Education. Motion 46 Primary Workforce Classroom Protocol and Motion 47 Early Years Education were both carried as amended.

We then moved to the motions from the Equalities Conferences. Motion 48 fighting for LGBT Rights was carried as amended and Claire spoke in this debate. Motion 49 on Black Members Structures was also carried.

In the Equality Section Motion 50 Anti Racism was carried as amended and in the International Section Motion 51 Stop the Spread of War was carried as amended.

During the Tuesday morning session a number of the motions were completed during the rest of the Education General Section and during unfinished business. This was followed by Christine Blowers address to Conference. She gave a rousing speech which ended with a standing ovation.

A number of women delegates from Notts attended the women’s fringe meeting – this saw the launch of an excellent booklet women chain makers Be Anvil or Hammer! but was again hindered by lack of seats! The women from Scotland who have been staging a sit in at their schools also spoke about the situation and the support they had received. Women’s rights are an area I think we need to look at developing over the next year

Overall a successful conference with many of the motions and amendments submitted by associations and divisions being considered however it is not enough that these are discussed annually. It is now essential that the necessary work is carried out by the executive and by officers around the country to ensure that these are acted upon. This will improve conditions for everyone.

Louise Regan, April 2009.