EIS members call to reclaim our union

We know that the leadership of the EIS have, for years, worked hand in glove with our employers but we could never have imagined such a betrayal.” This reaction from a classroom teacher in West Dunbartonshire clearly reflects the sense of anger felt by Scottish teachers at the sell out of their pay and conditions.

Having carried out an indicative ballot on the employer’s first offer, which returned a 97% rejection and an 85% call for industrial action on a 56% vote, the Salaries Committee recommended acceptance of a second offer which was almost identical to the first and completely ignored the fact that it contradicted EIS policy agreed by the AGM. Outrage at this new offer swept schools throughout Scotland.

Opposition was so great that those in EIS Headquarters were forced to carry out a mass propaganda campaign threatening teachers with job losses and unilateral abandonment of pay and conditions agreements by local councils if they did not accept.

EIS Reps. were told that they could not “circulate or promote to members such material which does not emanate from official EIS sources”.

You would have been forgiven for mistaking these threats as the hysterical diktats of a right wing Local Authority hell bent on destroying workers rights.

Incredibly, after the first overwhelming vote of rejection, EIS General Secretary, Ronnie Smith, declared that he saw no mood for a fight and went to a second ballot. And this was after saying “The message we need to send to the politicians, of all parties, is that we are not prepared to take it any more.  We will not allow the continuing dismantling of Scottish education in order to pay the bill for a publicly funded bail out of banks that was necessitated by the greed and dubious ethical standards of city traders and financial speculators.” Ronnie Smith (EIS General Secretary) before the sell-out

The result of 56.2% in favour of acceptance and 43.8% against was, in reality, a massive blow to the right wing bureaucracy.  

For years they have treated ordinary teachers with contempt but despite their threats and intimidation they just scraped a majority of those who voted.

What this leadership will understand is that the 44% who voted against with such determination and conviction have rejected all the misinformation, the offer and the position of Smith, Mackie, et al.

What they also know is that a large proportion of those who accepted the deal will have done so through fear of a leadership doing the dirty work of our employers.

They have no genuine base within the union for advocating this disgraceful attack on teachers pay and conditions.

These same leaders, who fronted the “Why Must our Children Pay” campaign and the Anti-Cuts demonstrations in Edinburgh and London, say that there is no alternative to the £60 million of education cuts demanded by COSLA and that teachers will have to pay with a salary freeze which will allow inflation to cut at least 10% off wages over the next 2 years.

When the Times Ed (11/2/11) claimed “pay talks on a knife edge” few of us would have believed that our negotiators would have taken that knife and plunged it so deeply into our backs.

It is absolutely essential that those on the left within the EIS organise themselves quickly.  This attack on pay and conditions will only be the first and we will have to be prepared to defend ourselves against the McCormack Review and further cuts next year.

The conditions exist for forming a substantial broad left within the union and the rank and file movement, Reclaim EIS, has made a significant start.

We must build a network of contacts within every Local Authority who can get our message into every school in Scotland.

It is entirely possible within a short space of time to organize an opposition to this bankrupt leadership which will shake this union from top to bottom.

There has already been a clear call by rank and file members within the EIS for,

• A campaign of industrial action to restore all our conditions of service

• A pay claim which restores the living standards of Scottish teachers

• The direct election of the EIS General Secretary by the EIS membership every five years

If you believe Salaries Convener, Dougie Mackie, then there is little we can do about cuts. On the contrary, we must organise our substantial forces and, if possible, in conjunction with other public sector unions take industrial action to protect our members.

Part of this task will be to sweep away this treacherous leadership and establish a democratic union responsive to the wishes of our members.