Hugh Reilly: Teachers, get ready to made a last stand

Published on Sunday 13 February 2011 14:37

AT THE Battle of the Little Big Horn, it would be fair to say that things went a tad awry for George Armstrong Custer.

Out of ammo and courageously standing next to the colours of his beloved Seventh Cavalry - the fluttering standard defiantly held in a rigor mortis grip by a somewhat impassive trooper with an arrow sticking through his head - historians concur that General Golden Hair was not in a strong negotiating position to end hostilities.

However, compared with the bargaining chips in the hands of the teaching unions at the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), Custer held all the aces.

Last week, talks at the SNCT broke down without agreement. The dire state of council budgets has emboldened local authorities to threaten a Carthaginian peace if those representing the interests of teachers do not accept their demands. In the worst-case scenario, there is speculation that national agreements will be unilaterally torn up and replaced with locally imposed pay and conditions.

The ransom note delivered to the professional associations by Cosla contained more demands than a screaming two-year-old force-fed a diet of E additives. Extortion racketeers running school workhouses want chalkies to have more contact time with pupils. Please Sirs, can we have some more? "More? More!" say incredulous dominies, who already spend more time in the classroom than most of their EU counterparts. City chambers Godfathers think such a concession would lead to a reduction of 1,500 teaching posts, exactly the kind of news excited parents and pupils want to hear. Further, it has not gone unnoticed at council HQ that teachers in their probationary year enjoy a reduced timetable, in recognition that newbies need some breathing space as they ease themselves in. However, in the brave new world of municipal slash and burn, such frivolous use of paid labour can no longer be justified.

Unsurprisingly, vulnerable staff are the victims of choice for bully burghers. Teachers on short-term supply - unable to secure permanent posts due to the axeing of teaching positions by education departments - are to be the whipping boys, their salaries reduced and working conditions worsened. Toss in other demands such as a cut in sick pay, a freezing of the Chartered Teaching programme, an end to conserved salaries, and it is easy to see why there are mutterings of classroom discontent.

As elsewhere in the public sector, teachers are already having to cope with a two-year wage freeze. And news of increased pension contributions hasn't helped foster a mood of bonhomie in the staffroom.

In meetings with teacher representatives, those in charge of council coffers are currently displaying the kind of flexibility normally associated with the Tin Man's debut at the world gymnastics championships. Be warned, I tell them, because there is a storm brewing.The extent of teacher dissatisfaction is measured using the "scunnered" scale, an unscientific but hugely reliable method of ascertaining the likelihood of industrial action. It's only anecdotal but at a recent EIS meeting in Glasgow, more than 350 teachers crammed into a city venue to discuss the implications of council cuts. Methinks teachers are not going to sit idly by and watch the hard-won benefits of McCrone snatched from their hands by grasping councils.

If SNCT talks are not successful, an indicative ballot of EIS members will probably take place. My guess is that the union would receive the necessary majority for industrial action of some description. Public sector workers are angry that their standard of living is being decimated to pay for the mistakes made in the private sector.

It's an outrage that councils want to destroy the McCrone agreement. Granted, times are tough but this economic crisis will eventually give way to a period of boom; that is, after all, how capitalism works. Wholesale concessions on pay and conditions made now are not in the best interests of teachers, parents and pupils.

McCrone promised a teaching profession fit for the 21st century. Caving in to local authority blackmail will send us back to the Dark Ages. Teachers must be prepared to make a last stand to avoid being scalped by council big chiefs.