Nutshells #72 Oct 07

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THE 72ND EDITION FOR ALL PLYMOUTH TEACHERS OCTOBER 2007

PAY If you believe your salary and that of your co-workers is too high and needs to be cut—do nothing

• Inflation now 4.1% • Crude Oil up 8.1% • Mortgage repossessions up 30% • PO workers achieve a possible 6.7% rise after taking strike action • Petrol and diesel over £1 a litre

Your pay “rise” this month is -1.9%

Your pay is being eroded by £37 a month month— —more than a £ a day...

Government Warning: TEACHING CAUSES SERIOUS DAMAGE TO YOUR WEALTH How much are you worth? Are you happy working harder for less pay? Is that fair? The NUT nationally has been sending each of you information about how the government is trying to impose a pay cut. The official inflation rate this month is 4.1% which is well above the 2.5% pay awarded in September. This means that as prices rise you have actually been given a pay cut. Education ministers are refusing to reconsider the pay award, even though they had originally promised to do so.

INFORMATION Don’t chuck the union bumph straight in the bin before reading about what’s happening to you. How far are you prepared to let your pay be eroded? Historically, NUT members have fought hard to get teachers’ wages on a professional footing. They had watched the same erosion of pay and stood up to be counted. We achieved a dramatic increase as a result. Incidentally, we’re not the only ones taking wage cuts. Your colleagues in the GMB and UNISON are in the same boat. In fact, all public-service workers are being affected. By working together we can make a bigger impact on the government...but what can I do?

❑ Read the stuff that the NUT is sending you ❑ Discuss it with your colleagues in all the unions ❑ Tell your MP. The national NUT website will help you to do this ❑ Visit the national NUT website at www.teachers.org.uk — it’s buzzing with ideas and teachers’ points of view, so why not join in?

Independent of Government and not affiliated to any political party

Images of Tolpuddle 2007 Longcause Rep A Few Facts.... Rob Barrett [r] shoulders the 1. As teachers, our pay increases have been held down to, or SW Region below, inflation in recent years. banner on the 2. We received a 2.5% rise from April 2004; 2.5% from April procession

Peanuts anybody?

2005; 0. 75% from September 2005; 2.5% from September 2006 and 2.5% from September 2007. 3. On top of this, anyone who is still in receipt of an MA has not had a rise in the allowance since April 2003. 4. Also, from January 2007, we are all paying an extra 0.4% towards our pensions, cutting our rise from September down to effectively 2.1%. 5. Annual inflation is currently running at 4.1%. Pay rates in the private sector are rising by more than 4% per annum. 6. Teachers begin their career earning 10% less than other graduates. After 5 years in the job, the gap has widened to more than 20%. This is in an era when far more jobs have graduate status. Mr Brown, the then Chancellor said... "You will have seen our determination to address public sector pay with this year's public sector settlements down to just 2.25%. We will maintain vigilance in the fight against inflation. We recognise that around the world what's driving public sector inflation is rising public sector labour costs. Public sector payments must now be founded on meeting that 2 per cent inflation target."

DARLING BALLS & BROWN Peanuts ‘til 2011? No thank you Mr Balls! No thank you Mr Darling! No thank you Mr Brown! It’s an old trick to try to get teachers and other public sector workers to pay for public services by cutting their standard of living. It was tried to disastrous effect by Labour in the late 1970s. It does the government no credit to think about repeating it.

Our Conference was quite clear that we would seek united action with other teachers’ organisations and other public sector workers to defeat these proposals. NASUWT, UNISON and PCS have already expressed similar intentions to fight a public sector pay freeze.

AT THE END OF NOVEMBER NUT MEMBERS WILL BE ASKED TO BALLOT FOR STRIKE ACTION TO PROTECT OUR PAY – ASK YOUR ATL AND NASUWT COLLEAGUES TO JOIN US! Steve Sinnott said, “You can’t value public servants if you cut their pay” Ed Balls finds out his pay rise will be the same as teachers for the next 3 years

“We need a union not in partnership with government but in partnership with teachers”

A special section on the NUT website allows members to give their experiences and views on the pay situation. A Plymouth teacher sent this:

"I’m coming into my third year of teaching now and I love it to bits. I was given the responsibility of Maths coordinator at the end of my first year. My school is in Intensive Support, which means I am continuously under pressure. I work on average 60 hours a week. I don’t get paid extra for being maths co-ordinator. It’s a lot of work for not a lot of money. I waste money every month on rent, and I really want to buy a house! (No chance!) I do the job for the children, not the pay, but it would be nice to feel that I’m not being mugged-off by the government. Teaching is where life begins; without teachers there would be no doctors, lawyers, politicians, anything! Our wage should reflect our importance. Happy teachers make for a good school environment and therefore happy children that want to learn! "

Tell us how your living costs and standards are being affected by below inflation pay rises. Contribute to the debate and help the Union develop its case. Send your message by going to the special section of the NUT website: http://www.teachers.org.uk/SalaryCampaign/salarycamp.php#form Please note that the comments selected for publishing will appear anonymously. Information gathered in your details will be used for reference purposes only by the NUT. The union will only publish a selection of comments supplied.

IL NT R U E D DE EMB N V TE EX H NO 30T

Talk to your ATL, NASUWT, RECRUIT A UNISON & GMB colleagues to COLLEAGUE OR see if they feel their pay A FRIEND TO should be cut THE NUT FREE 1GB USB and have the MEMORY STICK chance to win for every NQT A CASE OF joining before QUALITY WINE 30th November—just or email your membership number and school £50 IN CASH address to get yours! FULL DETAILS FROM [email protected]

MINIBUS UPDATE Booster Seats in School Mini-buses ? All passengers in a minibus (which is up to 2.54 tonnes unladen weight) have been required to use seat belts for some years. A child required to use a child seat or booster in a car must do so in a minibus only if a suitable one is available. A typical car child seat is not suitable for a typical minibus seat—which is narrower and less deep. A seat is not available if it is not suitable. As a general rule, therefore, the children will use the belts provided, which are typically adjustable. The operator is not required to provide suitable child seats. The new rules do not yet apply in respect of children travelling in bigger coaches and buses, but they will be the same eventually as they are for minibuses. Passengers in all minibuses/buses/ coaches where seat belts are fitted must be notified that seat belt wearing is required by law. For information on that and further information on seat belt wearing on buses and coaches see the DforT website. A member asks: “Our HT is using the new professional standards to put pressure on staff to do more. She has told one teacher on UPS1 that the post-threshold standard P5: ‘Have a more developed knowledge and understanding of their subjects/curriculum areas and related pedagogy including how learning progresses within them,’ means that he should be taking a leadership role in Geography.” Answer: Guidance is being prepared for members on the implications of the new STP&CD pay standards for those wishing to apply to access the Upper Pay Scale. The NUT’s guidance to members will emphasise that HTs need not reassess whether teachers on the main scale applying for post-threshold assessment to access the upper pay scale have met the core standards. The NUT believes that it will be sufficient for HTs to check whether the teacher’s annual performance reviews have shown that he or she has met the core standards. The post-threshold standard P5 "Have a more...how learning progresses within them" is not very specific. This HT has chosen to decide that means leading a subject; it could mean develop your geography skills. Depending on the amount of leadership time you are given there is a limit to what you can do in your directed time without additional pay. One should assume leadership time must be given if people are expected to co-ordinate a subject, and paid a TLR if the criteria fits.

WORKLOAD INCREASING... We now know that the so-called workload agreement has failed to reduce our workload. Even with at least 10% PPA time teachers are in many cases working for longer and teaching more. A few have seen a reduction measured only in minutes. What has been the cost of all this? The 3-year 2% “pay deal”...time for some professional unity...

ASBESTOS—SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED? See next month’s edition If your PM reviewer insists on crude % pupil performance say that it could rebound on the school management via OfSTED if individual pupil-specific progress grades were used for targets of particular staff because overall pupil progress is judged by OfSTED as a whole-school issue. It’s not in the new PM Regs anyway...

A member writes, “Do I have to set work for my TA to deliver when I have PPA time?” Answer: NO—it’s about workload reduction...

Plymouth Division: [email protected] 01503 240527 Regional Office: [email protected],uk 01392 258028