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THE 70TH EDITION FOR ALL PLYMOUTH TEACHERS JULY 2007


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IT’S BALLS!
Ed Balls MP has been appointed to the new department for schools,
children and the family. An MP since 2005 he was a close aide to
Gordon Brown when at the Treasury. Mr Balls is a member of the
TGWU, UNISON and the Co-operative Party. He is married to Yvette • NQT’s pay cut by
Cooper MP and has three children. Outside work Mr Balls interests
include music, cooking and playing football with his children. £724 in the last 3
years

PAY
Inflation now • UPS3 teacher’s
4.5% pay cut by £1236
• Mortgage interest • If inflation stays
rates up 20% in around 4% you’ll
12 months lose another
and rising... If you believe your £3000 in the next
• Council Tax up at
least 5% salary and that of 3 years
• Private sector pay
• House prices up your co-workers is up 4½% last year
11% • Non-teacher
• Petrol near £1 a too high and needs to graduate pay rises
litre [£4=50 a
gallon]
be cut back—do by over 50% after
3 years
• Water up at least nothing. • We will be stuck
12% with 2½%, 2%,
• Pension “You can’t value public 2% and 2% until
contribution up servants 2010 if you do
from Jan 2007 if you cut their pay” nothing

Independent of Government and not affiliated to any political party


PAY CUT BY £35 EVERY Last week’s TES SURVEY found that
MONTH… pay is now the number one issue for
If there was no inflation, our pay teachers in England & Wales.
could stay the same year on year
and it wouldn’t lose its buying
power.
The situation we have now
[assuming there was no inflation],
sees our pay being continuously
reduced. Would teachers notice
£35 being lopped off each month
and do nothing about it?

Anyone who is still in receipt of


management allowances has not
had a rise in the allowance since
April 2003.
From January 2007, we are all pay-
ing an extra 0.4% towards our
pensions, cutting our rise from last
September down to effectively
2.1%.
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.
Making Public Sector Workers Pay A 2½% pay rise this year
In the public sector, the Government is seeking to impose a limit of and 2% for the following
2% in order to make public sector workers pay for rising inflation.
That is why the NUT is campaigning together with other public 3 years when inflation is
sector unions for a fair pay increase of all public sector workers. currently 4.5% is a pay cut
Other public sector workers who, like teachers, face real terms pay
cuts include:
in anyone’s language.
♦ Nurses – a recommended pay award of 2.5% for nurses was Do you deserve it?
staged in order to reduce its value over the year to 1.9%, except
in Scotland where the 2.5% has been paid in full. Your standard of
♦ Doctors – hospital doctors received as little as 1%, with any
increases of more than 1.5% staged, and there was no pay living is falling and
increase for GPs.
♦ Local government workers – their employers have offered only will continue to
2% in negotiations for the 1.3 million workers in local
government services. fall unless you do
Regional Pay
Across the public sector, the Government has tried to argue that something about it
increases due to incremental progression should be brought into
the pay equation, which would reduce the percentage increase in “Boom and Bust” was the
pay scales. The threat of regional pay is also still alive, with some
civil service departments seeking to introduce regional pay old way our pay was
proposals which threaten national pay scales and seek specifically determined—when it lost its
to reduce pay in the North of England and Wales.
Private Sector Solution? value a big campaign had
The private sector response to rising inflation, on the other hand, to be launched with much
has not been to limit pay rises and impose real terms pay cuts. The government hand-wringing to
annual rate of increase in average earnings across the whole
economy was 4.6% as at February 2007. Forecasters say that in grudgingly allow teachers’ pay
the second half of 2007 average earnings increases will continue to recover the losses—looks
above 4 per cent.
like we’re going to suffer this
Do you support Steve again...unless we do some-
Sinnott’s call for a 10% thing to restore its value
pay rise or before it falls even further.
£3 000 for all A decent living wage means
teachers to the ability to buy a home…
redress the shortfall or do you believe teachers
over the past 3 years [rather than other graduate
and inflation over the professionals] should be ex-
next three? cluded from home ownership?

“We need a union not in partnership with


government but in partnership with teachers”
TRUST SCHOOL “CONSULTATION” ENDS
The final round of so-called consultation ended on 6th
July. Widewell Primary School has followed the
pattern of other potential trust schools by choosing to
ignore a staff ballot that was overwhelmingly against
and refusing to pass information critical of the
proposals to parents and carers. The detailed critique
provided by Plymouth NUT was overlooked.
The fact that all teacher unions oppose trust schools
and believe them to be an instrument of privatisation
with the potential for the casualisation of staff
employment, has not been addressed.
Parents have been refused the opportunity to ballot.
Once the final decision is made—by the school
governors alone—the buildings and land will transfer
over to their ownership and be lost to the community.
Decisions in the school will be influenced by the trust
“partner” - a company called Dyslexia Action which
also has a parallel charity using the same name. The
school’s documentation has been silent on any possible
financial exchanges between this organisation and the
school.

Crazy about work?


“Tiredness Can Kill
Take a Break”
John Illingworth will speak to WORKLOAD...WORKLOAD...WORKLOAD…
We now know that the so-called workload agreement has
Plymouth teachers failed to reduce our workload. Even with at least 10% PPA
time teachers are in many cases working for longer and
on October 17th teaching more. A few have seen a reduction measured only in
minutes. What has been the cost of all this? The 3 year “pay
about the mental health of the deal” is a consequence...time for some professional unity...
profession. A member writes, “Do I have to set work for my TA
to deliver when I have PPA time?”
This meeting will be open to all Answer: NO—it’s about workload reduction...

“Unity in action at workplace


level can really work”
Plymouth Division:
plymnut@teacher.clara.co.uk
01503 240527
Regional Office:
south.west@nut.org,uk
01392 258028

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