Bill Greenshields, Past NUT President, and founder member of PU 2000 gives a personal view on the necessity to unite to save our state education system. UNIFY is very pleased that Bill has taken on the role of Honorary NUT Vice President of UNIFY.

“The urgent need for a single education union must be clear to all. Only those who do not choose to see its importance could deny it. Unity, a single voice, acting together, solidarity – these are the very bases of trade unionism, the very foundations of success.”

We are fighting for the very survival of an integrated, publicly funded state comprehensive education system. We are struggling to see the end of SATs. We are striving to protect ourselves from excessive workload. We have shown our continuing opposition to pay cuts. We will soon have to be again campaigning against attacks on our pensions. We need to act collectively to prevent punitive inspections and all-too-common management bullying. You can add to the list.
Any one of our education unions can lobby and protest on such issues. But without a united profession we will find it extremely difficult to win. This is so obvious that it should hardly need saying. We have a profession with one of the highest densities of union membership – but disunity inevitably weakens us.

Yet there are those who prefer competition between our unions to unity of purpose. They limit themselves to simply vying to be the largest union in a divided profession, rather than taking on the task of unifying – for one education union. There are others who believe that achieving a single education union is “too difficult” in the current situation – and so decide not to work for it. I think that our lives will become “too difficult” if we do not achieve it!

We have to consider every avenue to achieve unity – unity in policy, in action and finally organisationally. We should take as our inspiration the fact that, in every school, teachers from different unions work well together professionally and in union terms too – when they are allowed to. Overwhelmingly, without a doubt the “ordinary members” of all our unions want a single union. Maybe the main thrust for unity should start in our schools – in joint union committees – and drive up through the union structures.

I welcome the launch of “UNIFY – for one education union”. When members of all the unions get together in its activities, you can feel the potential strength. We need to feel the strength of such unity right across our profession.

Teachers, members of all the unions, and generations to come will not forgive us if we fail in the task of achieving a single union… and as a result of that failure see our profession and our education service weakened and undermined. There is no time to waste, the task is urgent – and we have to show now that we are up to the job.