The prolonged howl of despair from the teaching unions at their annual conferences has become a venerated ritual during the Easter period. As activists give their readings from the gospel of grievance, incantations of sorrow over pay are accompanied by repeated mantras about “Tory cuts” and righteous talk of strike action.
This year, in the usual atmosphere of rhetorical militancy from the classroom comrades, the traditional liturgy has been followed rigorously. Today sees the start in Liverpool of the annual gathering by members of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT), whose General Secretary Patrick Roach has warned that his union is ready to “do whatever is necessary”, including strikes, to secure a better deal for teachers, despite the Government’s award of an inflation-busting 5.5% pay rise last July.
Roach will not be involved in any showdown, having decided to retire as General Secretary. But there is a strong probability his successor could be even more of a radical firebrand. In an extraordinary move, the executive of the NAS/UWT has named as its preferred candidate the hardline left-winger Matt Wrack, the former boss of the notoriously uncompromising Fire Brigades Union. Wrack, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has no teaching experience, but his combative political approach appeals to the picket-line pedagogues of the NAS/UWT executive.
Unless an alternative candidate emerges, Wrack will be formally declared the new General Secretary when nominations close tomorrow night. His victory will be a troubling moment for British education and the teaching profession, especially because his rebellious socialist outlook is also held by Daniel Kebede, the head of the much bigger National Education Union (NEU) since 2023.
Not only will their shared philosophy be a recipe for turmoil, but Kebede has the organisational muscle to bring chaos to the education system, presiding over a membership of 480,000 and a campaign war chest of £100million. Moreover, his abrasive political character will inevitably cause friction.
Recently he boasted that he wants to “declare war” on Nigel Farage’s Reform Party by using union funds both to challenge Reform candidates at elections and to indoctrinate school pupils against Reform policies, which Kebede, another ally of Corbyn’s, has branded as “far right” and “racist”.
Such labels come all too easily to him. This is a man who has compared private schools to apartheid, has said that the British education system is “fundamentally and institutionally racist” and has called on supporters to “fight for Palestinian resistance” and “globalise the Intifada”.
The same extremism and victimhood were on display at the NEU annual conference Harrogate this week. Moaning about workloads, the union produced a survey which claimed just 1.5% of school staff did not suffer from “stress”. And it was inevitable the union would back “immediate preparations” for a formal, nationwide strike ballot over pay, given that the conference order paper had at least eight resolutions calling for an escalation in industrial disputes. The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that any disruption in schools would be “indefensible” and she is absolutely right. There is no justification for the teaching unions’ narrative of anguish.
Contrary to the shrieks about austerity, schools spending has gone up in real terms by £6billion or 11% over the last five years while, since 2010, the number of teachers has risen by 27,300. But those facts do not suit the militants’ agenda of conflict.
It is the same story right across the public sector, where the trade unions are fomenting a growing mood of discontent by the long, embittered dispute by refuse collectors in Birmingham. Britain could soon be engulfed by industrial unrest, as civil servants, NHS staff, council employees, transport staff and university lecturer prepare for a long series of stoppages.
The Labour Government talks about standing firm, but their apparent resolve is unconvincing, partly because the party is still bankrolled by the unions. Since Sir Keir Starmer became leader, the unions have donated £31million to Labour’s coffers.
Their reward has been enhanced state spending and the promise of greater powers, including the removal of some restrictions on the right to strike. All this has emboldened the unions, just at a time when the likes of Wrack and Kebede should be faced down rather than appeased.
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