NASUWT Inner London Associations

Inner London President; Kathy Duggan

Inner London Secretary: Geraint Pugh

Camden Sec : David Dansky 0207-485-9416

Greenwich Sec : Roy Moore 0208-858-9829

Hammersmith/Fulham : Steve Harrison 0208-743-7629

Hackney Sec : Regional Office 0207-978-1881

Islington Sec : Greg Robbins 0207-251-1161

Lambeth Sec : Richard Beeby 0208-670-6577

Kensington/Chelsea : Mike Hobson 0207-584-9207

Lewisham Sec : Kathy Duggan 01689-870-177

Southwark Sec : Stephen Luscombe 0208-469-3475

Tower Hamlets Sec : Ian Timpany 0208-981-1131

Wandsworth Sec : Wally Leonard 0208-682-7032

Westminster Sec : David Rooke 0207-641-5959

National Exec. Members:- Seamus Searson(0207-474-4560) & Kathy Duggan(01689-870-177)

March 2002

London Allowance Campaign

All NASUWT members in Inner London should have received a letter asking them to write to their own MP about the teachers' London Allowance. Teacher recruitment in Inner London shows no sign of improving, despite large numbers of colleagues joining us from the Southern Hemisphere.

The NASUWT sees no reason why the London Allowance for teachers should be any less than the £6,000 currently paid to Police Officers. Housing expenditure is making the capital city far too expensive for most teachers. Even if you did not write to your MP during the campaign at the end of January, why not do so now?

Problems in Southwark

We have an unprecedented number of disputes in Southwark, all of them in secondary schools. Members are advised to seek union advice before applying for a post in a Southwark secondary school. Some examples of the problems include:-

Kingsdale School-NASUWT is in dispute with the LEA over the harassment of a Trade Union officer. Members are still instructed to take no part in the school's Performance Management Scheme. Salary chaos.

St Thomas the Apostle College-Governors are failing to hear a formal grievance presented by NASUWT on behalf of a member. The NASUWT cannot advise its members to seek employment in this institution.

Aylwin School-Member dismissed on grounds of redundancy without hearing or opportunity for appeal, or Trade Union consultation. The school was guided in this action by W S Atkins, the private company employed to run Southwark LEA services-other Associations beware! Governors have refused to meet with NASUWT, which is preparing court action.

Geoffrey Chaucer School-Long running dispute about failure to consult over Performance Management. Any member tempted to apply to this school, which is without a Pay Policy, is recommended to seek union advice.

Martin Johnson

All members have reason to be grateful to Martin Johnson, who led London NASUWT as National Executive member for many years. In the year 2,000 he served as the union's National President. Having completed his term of office, Martin is now ending his employment as a teacher so that he can concentrate on education research. We shall miss him, and it is with much affection that we offer him our sincere thanks for his dedication, wisdom, friendship and work on behalf of London teachers.

Recruitment and Retention Points

Local Officers in several Inner London Associations are surprised that more members have accepted loss of salary via the Recruitment & Retention fiasco without asking the Association to pursue their case. When salaries were restructured during 2000, the many London teachers who were in receipt of an R&R point (usually worth about £1,500-sometimes much more) suffered a reduction to just over £900. Employers were given the discretion of awarding a higher grade R&R point.

NASUWT holds the view that NO teacher should have lost money over this extraordinary decision, and that Governing Bodies should exercise their power by restoring teachers' earnings. We are aware that many of them have not done so. The Association can only act on your behalf, however, if you tell us!

If you think that you may have suffered a loss in salary due to the restructuring of R&R, contact your local secretary immediately. Lewisham NASUWT has been particularly active on this issue. Where Governing Bodies have failed to correct this anomaly formal pay-claims have been filed on behalf of members.

Retirement of Nigel de Gruchy

The NASUWT Conference in Scarborough will be the last one attended by our retiring General Secretary Nigel de Gruchy. He has been an outstanding leader. Before becoming a full-time official, Nigel was a Lewisham teacher and an active London officer. Members of Inner London NASUWT wish him a long and happy retirement.

Problems in Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets NASUWT has major concerns about the confused state of the LEA personnel procedures. Some time ago they appointed a person with little knowledge of procedures to be in charge of Education Personnel. That person left after a major overspend of budget, but sadly left behind a booklet entitled "Personnel Procedures" which are significant departures from the Borough's Agreed Procedures, most of which date from 1994.

The so-called "Personnel Procedures" are a wish-list of things some heads would like to be able to get away with if they did not have Trade Unions worrying them with antiquated concepts like human rights, fairness, employee relations, etc.

Among the defects in these dreadful procedures are:-

· No right to representation!

· Reckless timescales

· Admission of hearsay evidence

· Inability to use accepted meanings of terms

It is difficult to see the interest of Tower Hamlets LEA in persisting with this travesty.

Members in other LEAs should beware. Our members often see Procedures as a boring problem for somebody else to worry about….until they get trapped into a procedure themselves!

Relationships with ATL and NUT

Eamonn O'Kane, designate General Secretary of NASUWT, has circulated a document which discusses the possibilities of unity with the two other teacher trade Unions. This is likely to be the basis of lively debate during the coming months.

And, to finish:-

Sad People

Over 400 members contacted the NASUWT website on Christmas Day!