A Union Official
It was in Thame that I started to follow my father’s footsteps and joined a union. It wasn’t exactly what you would think of as a Trade Union … or at least what I thought of at that time as a Trade Union.
Teaching isn’t exactly a “blue collar”, working class, profession, and the union that I chose was not militant by any means. Some people referred to us conservative, or even “right wing”, but that wasn’t really true. We preferred to call ourselves the moderate Teachers’ union.
In the UK, there are several teaching unions. The largest was the National Union of Teachers, (NUT), then there always seemed to be a dispute as to which was the second largest – it all depended on how you calculated the figures – nationally and some areas of the country it was the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, (what a mouthful, at least the abbreviation, NAS/UWT, was a little better!), but in others it was us, the AMMA. When I joined it was the Assistant Masters Association, (AMA), later to be called the Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association, (AMMA), and finally the much better Association of Teachers and Lectures, (ATL).
At college, all the student body were automatically enrolled as members of the NUT, whether we wanted to be members of not. I suppose they provided us with insurance and had there been any serious problems the Union would offer support … but, to be honest, I don’t remember any other benefit of membership. A couple of individuals decided to join the NAS, but we didn’t really see any particular reason to join them. So it was only when I actually started teaching myself that the question of joining a union really arose.
I was approached by the school’s AMA representative first of all. He seemed to show a real interest in my joining the Union, but there was no pressure or anything. I took the leaflets he offered, read them and eventually decided to join.
Amongst the various reasons I chose AMA were:
- The representative showed a genuine interest in wanting me to join – it was taken for granted like it seemed to be with the NUT. (Sorry to all my former colleagues in the NUT, but that is how it seemed at the time);
- The policies of the Association seemed reasonable and something I could agree with;
- The membership was limited to classroom teachers … Head teachers were not allowed to join, they had their own Association. It seemed to me that there was a conflict of interest when someone who is effectively an employer should be involved in a union which seeks to promote and protect the interests of the rank and file membership. (This question has been raised recently here in Kyrgyzstan where the Head of one of the Tourism Associations also serves as a Government Advisor.)
I can’t pretend that I wasn’t concerned by the fact that, at that time, it was a male only organization, but there were already moves to change that status and merge with a sister Association of School Mistresses.
I was also a little concerned by the fact that it was one of the smaller organizations but, when I read reports in the educational press, I decided that “size wasn’t everything”, that they had a voice and were able to get it heard by the people in positions of authority.
So, here I am as a new member of a profession and as a member of a professional association.
Now, as I have said elsewhere, I tend to have an obsessive and compulsive personality – once I decide to do something, then I tend to throw my full weight behind the decision and I am not afraid of the work that they may involve. As a result I found myself getting involved at Branch meetings and branch affairs. My first job was in, and the branch served, a rural area. I happened to live in the regional center so I got given a few jobs to do including attending meetings. I also got sent to the National Conference of the Union as a Branch Delegate.
When I moved to London I transferred my membership to the new local branch. Here I met some acquaintances from the national conference, and within a year I found myself elected to office in the new branch. Over the next sixteen years I continued to work within the union variously as a School Representative, Branch Representative, Secretary, Treasurer, Chairman, Conference Delegate, Auditor … and so on.
The experience taught me an awful lot, especially about bureaucracy, handling people and solving problems – all of which has been particularly useful in later life.
A lot of people think of a Union only in terms of negotiating pay rises and conditions of service, or as a “friend” in times of need offering insurance and legal assistance. Certainly these are important aspects of a Union’s role – but there is a lot more to it than just that.
In the UK, the salary levels for teachers are usually decided at the national level and I was never involved in these negotiations, although I was involved in surveys and campaigns. I was, however, very involved in negotiating local conditions of service on many different occasions. Once we received a proposed policy from the local authority and one of my colleagues asked if I had seen it. I said I had, but although I hadn’t yet had the chance to study it thoroughly, it seemed to follow national guidelines. I was taken aback by his sense of outrage … about how disastrous the policy was, and what a deterioration in the existing conditions it represented, that I immediately went and did a detailed analysis. He was right. Of over a hundred changes proposed to the existing policy, custom and practice, three represented marginal improvements, and the others were all serious deteriorations for our members. Even if the document seemed to follow national guidelines, it still seemed to include violations of what could be considered “natural justice”. Most important of all, however, it was based on general guidelines and when they were applied to schools, the result seemed to be a total mismatch with reality and had the potential for causing real difficulties in the day to day running of schools in the borough. We were able to put a logical case opposing the document and although we didn’t win the argument on every point, we were able to bring about substantial changes.
Perhaps the hardest part of my various jobs in the union was dealing with member’s problems. On one occasion, one of our members had a problem and I went to see them and the Head teacher in their school. It was a particularly difficult situation and the Head asked me if we had a lot of such problems. The question caught me unwares and I replied: “Not that many, it all depends on how early the member decides to involve us … if it is early enough then we can often help resolve the situation more easily, but sometimes they leave it until someone has said or done something that creates even more problems.” Indeed, one of the most important lessons I learned was that the Union could not solve every problem, and even where a resolution can be found, often it is not to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. Sometimes the phrase: “You cannot win!” is the watchword that you have to remember.
It wasn’t all a case of handling disputes, conflict resolution and dealing with problems. If some of the work, representing members and solving problems, was like “fire fighting”, then another aspect of the work of the union, lobbying and public relations, was akin to “fire prevention”. I had to lobby councilors and the press on several occasions. Having a good case backed by solid arguments, although necessary, was only part of the task necessary for such a job. Unfortunately a lot of decisions are taken not on a basis of logic, but on emotional grounds so it was necessary to plan “campaigns” carefully. One of the most important skills that it was necessary to develop was the ability to put your own experience, views and opinions to one side and to “step into the other person’s shoes” so as to see the argument from their perspective. It still amazes me how many people seem unable, or unwilling, to do this.
One important issue that we occasionally had to deal with was helping people plan for retirement. I was not, and am not, an expert in this field … and thank goodness we had specialists to help us with this work. It was amazing how many people did not plan ahead for their retirement. Newly qualified, young teachers who are starting out on their career have so much to think about and retirement seems so far in the future that they don’t give much thought to the question. As they get older there are questions and issues which occupy their time and their minds … and retirement is once again pushed into the background. It is only as the date approaches that they begin to realize how important the question is and what is needed to secure their financial prosperity. Indeed, as I get older and approach retirement age myself, I am often brought up short thinking how poor a job I have done in this respect for myself, (I was once asked a question by a journalist about our plans here in Kyrgyzstan to which I replied: “This is my retirement plan – if all goes well with the tour company and the hotels then I should be able to retire in comfort, but if not then I will probably end up sleeping under London Bridge.”).
Bishkek