“Give us justice or we fight!” was the 1919 clarion call of the Union’s founding leaders which echoed down the years. Whether it was outrageous denial of recognition, or low pay with negotiations conducted in secrecy, or voluntary ‘duties’ taken for granted, or controversial hikes in pension contributions (1956 and 1972 are being repeated today) or being expected to teach disruptive pupils in impossible circumstances, the NASUWT believed in the unique feature distinguishing a genuine trade union from other types of organisation - the willingness of employees to challenge by direct action gross injustice perpetrated by employers and government.
However, the NASUWT preferred compromise and consensus. National incomes policies and social contracts were supported, subject to fairness and even application to all. Third party intervention in salary negotiations proved more productive than the ‘jungle of free collective bargaining’. The History of the NASUWT ends on an optimistic and positive note welcoming the Social Partnership with the Labour Government in the early 2000s. The wanton destruction of that productive relationship between government and all but one of the school teacher unions after the general election of 2010 by the Coalition Parties is in the words of the author “reckless and deplorable”. |
