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YOUR UNION

Honouring campaigners

NUT members are invited to nominate an education campaigner outside the union for the 2010 Fred and Anne Jarvis Award.

The award recognises the example and commitment to education shown by former NUT general secretary Fred Jarvis and his late wife Anne, a lifelong NUT member and former chair of the education committee for Barnet Council.

The 2009 award was won by Fiona Millar, the journalist and campaigner. She was nominated by Camden NUT Association. The 2008 winner was Margaret Tulloch, a campaigner for state education for over 30 years.

If you know someone who could be a successor to Fiona and Margaret, please email your nomination to Celia Dignan – c.dignan@nut.org.uk – by 1 March 2010. The award will be presented at the NUT's annual conference in Liverpool in April.


Pensions update

Retired NUT members are facing a freeze in their teachers’ pensions next April.

The April increase in teachers’ pensions is based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) increase in the preceding September. For example, the April 2009 increase of 5 per cent was based on the annual increase in September 2008. In September 2009, however, the RPI stood at
-1.4 per cent.

The government has confirmed the NUT’s view that the law does not permit a pensions cut, so teachers’ pensions will be frozen. (The basic state pension will still rise by 2.5 per cent in April
2010, however.)

The pension freeze could hit retired members hard; in practice their cost of living is rising faster than average as a higher percentage of their income is swallowed up by fuel bills and food costs.


100 years ago: The Schoolmaster, December 25, 1909

Books and Pictures
Poems by Mr D H Lawrence, assistant master in the Davidson Road Council School, Croydon, have recently been published in the English Review. A monthly of that standing does not admit to its columns the work of mere versifiers, and I congratulate Mr Lawrence, not only on the prominent publication of his poems but on the fine quality of them – and I hear too, that a novel of his is soon to appear.

Let us welcome into the rather small band of teachers really littérateurs; so far as in me lies to judge, I hail him as a true-born poet. The four considerable poems of his which were published are really wonderful, coming from a man of hardly
twenty-five.


My role in the union

The division president: Stuart Williams teaches at Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and is Gwynedd division president.

When did you first become active in the union?
I became active as soon as I started teaching back in 2001. My father (who is now retired) was, and still is, active in the union in the Gwynedd division. He got me interested and it’s due to his influence that I attended my first division meeting.

In my first year of teaching, I went to an NUT school reps’ course at Stoke Rochford. I then became the school rep, and have been ever since.

What role do you currently hold?
I’m honoured to be Gwynedd divisional president, with my father being the vice-president.

What does your role involve?
I chair all the divisional meetings, but the role isn’t too onerous. The officers within the division are all excellent and much more experienced than me. They are all fully committed to the union, and that makes my role much easier.

What are the best aspects of the role?
Attending the NUT’s annual conference on behalf of the division is by far the best aspect of my role. I have attended the last five conferences – my first being in Gateshead in 2005. I have made and kept in touch with so many new friends in the union.

Also very enjoyable was being able to attend and work at the National Eisteddfod (Welsh cultural festival) in Bala on behalf of the division. I thoroughly enjoyed my two days there working – and networking – on the NUT Cymru stand alongside David Evans and Glesni Jones from the NUT Cymru office and Rhiannon Howells, who was acting divisional secretary for Ceredigion last summer. Hopefully I’ll be able to work alongside them again when the Eisteddfod is held in Ebbw Vale next year.

And the worst aspects?
There are no worst aspects to be honest as I really enjoy the role.

What campaigns would you like to see the union work towards in the next few years?
The union has been fighting some great campaigns on behalf of its members since I first joined in 2001. I personally feel that one of the most important is to ensure that every single child is taught by a qualified teacher and not by an unqualified cover supervisor. This should be done to ensure that all NUT supply teacher members have the opportunity to work and earn a decent living.


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