Report of the Officers

Annual General Meeting, 12th March 2008

Secretary's Report

Jane Rudon

Meetings and speakers

In the past year we have had eight Association meetings and eight Committee meetings, one of which was turned into a Special Association meeting in order to consider amendments to conference motions. In addition we enjoyed two Committee social evenings.

As always we have tried to cover a wide range of issues in our meetings and have invited some interesting and entertaining speakers.

We discussed global issues with guest speaker Jonny Gutteridge who is a campaign organiser for Skillshare International (a development agency) and a campaigner for Make Poverty History.

In May 2007 the focus of the meeting was religious schools and Alan Hayes from the Humanist Society and the Secular Society was our guest speaker.

In June we considered diversity. Steve Boyce spoke about LGBT issues and raised three main issues: (i) homophobic bullying, (ii) workplace regulations and (iii) the Union's resources and other materials. Camille London-Miyo reported on the NUT Charter on Black Caribbean Boys.

In September 2007 we were moved by NUT member Claire Wintram's talk about her trip to the West Bank in April 2007. The talk was entitled 'The Impact of the Occupation on Teaching and Learning in the West Bank.'

We were delighted to welcome Baljeet Ghale, the NUT National President to our meeting in October. She told us about some of her experiences as President and really launched our pay campaign. She was most entertaining.

We also welcomed John Illingworth, a retired headteacher and past President of the union, to a meeting in November. John spoke to us very openly and movingly about stress in the workplace.

Yet another national NUT speaker was the Deputy General Secretary, Christine Blower who helped us keep up the momentum of the pay campaign earlier in the spring term.

Today we welcome Steve Sinnott, the General Secretary of the union who will update us on the pay campaign, but who has also been in Leicester for the afternoon to celebrate New College Leicester's revival and to meet officers and politicians to discuss the Action Plan for Transforming Schools in Leicester.

Local NUT organisation

As I was re-elected (unopposed) to the National Executive, Ian Leaver has increased the amount of time he works in the NUT office. He now works three days a week in the office as does Pete Flack. It's amazing how the workload seems to grow to fill all our time! Our capacity is stretched but I think we work well together as a team and I consider that we offer a local service to our members that is second to none (although I say so myself).

Ian does most of the organisational side of the union, including membership, mailing etc.

Pete tends to have a more strategic role with the local authority, particularly as he is also the secretary of the teachers' panel of the Teacher Consultative Committee.

We all do a lot of casework - particularly to do with workload, stress and ill health.

Andy Haynes has rejuvenated the Health and Safety aspect of the union's work and I hope that he will be able to continue to work towards ensuring that we have a NUT H&S representative in every school.

We've been thinking about having regular meetings for our headteacher members for a while and recently, we were very grateful to Steve Boyce who has organised several meetings for heads. This came about in particular because of the job evaluation of support staff and the single status implementation. This has been a nightmare for all concerned and has been very badly handled by the local authority corporately.

Our Young Teachers' Group has been lead by Sam Tallis and whilst it is not as thriving as we would hope, I understand there have been a few merry evenings.

We held a very successful quiz night last year that attracted a record number of teams from different schools. Many thanks to Ian for organising this event.

Officers attended the annual freshers' fair at the university and the local authority's NQT function to encourage students and NQTs to join the NUT.

School Representatives

We continue to value our school representatives and now have a named person in every school (even if they are the first person alphabetically on our records!). We had a training session last year that was well received. The mains issues we covered were workload and performance management.

Conference 2007

A full delegation went to a very successful conference at Harrogate. There were some excellent fringe meetings. Ian and Jane successfully proposed and seconded the motion on false allegations. Baljeet Ghale, the first black president chaired conference very well. The whole of agenda was completed and we passed many key motions. A delegate, who had not attended conference for some years, remarked that it was much more positive and united than before.

Children and Young People's Service

We are concerned that the Children and Young People's Service is less concerned with education than other aspects of the service. There has been a great deal of movement of officers and Human Resources was nearly 'corporatised' out of existence. Some parts of its functions (such as recruitment) have moved to Corporate HR but the personnel work with schools is still separate.

We were very disturbed last year when we heard that a number of headteachers and LA officers had been summoned to the Department for Children, Schools and Families because of our continuing low ranking in the league tables. There are many reasons why the city of Leicester struggles in the humiliating and unnecessary league tables and we heard that threats had been made to colleagues and that the whole experience was most unpleasant.

There was a very real threat that the whole local authority would be outsourced if standards were not raised by summer 2008.

We responded immediately, giving support to our members, especially headteacher members who were feeling very vulnerable. We held a public meeting and launched a Support Our Schools campaign that has been widely supported by unions, governors, Leicester Social Forum, Leicester Education Forum, local and national politicians. Basically we were determined that we would not allow city schools to be taken away from the LA and we are working closely with the LA to develop short and long term strategies that will raise the standards in our schools.

These strategies form the Transforming Schools Action Plan.

The focus is very much on so-called underperforming schools, or hard to shift schools. A number of primary schools have been receiving support from the Improving Attainment in Priority Primary Schools scheme. We have been in contact with members in these IAPPS and endeavoured to help and support them because many members have felt bullied rather than supported by the scheme. We have raise this many times with senior officers of the LA and now meet regularly with senior officers to consider the situation of all schools that are causing concern whether because they are in an Ofsted category or for other reasons.

Building Schools for the Future

The contract for BSF was finally signed shortly before Christmas. The work on the four schools in the first phase began in the autumn. We think that phase 2 will follow but we do not yet know what affect the Transforming Schools Action Plan might have on phase 2.

Consultation/negotiation with the LA

The consultation/ negotiation arrangements with the LA are being changed to better reflect the change from Education to Children and Young People's Service. There will be a Joint Consultative Committee that looks at issues that cover the whole of the Children and Young People's Service, the Schools and Settings Consultative Committee and the Teachers' Negotiating Committee. We have been ready to implement these changes for nearly a year, but colleagues in one support staff union are not yet satisfied with their arrangements so we are continuing with TCC and TNC.

The TNC Working Party has continued to consider such issues as maternity leave, arrangements for overseas trained teachers and many other matters, but the capacity of the HR Department has been stretched to the limit (due to illness and SSI in particular) and we have not completed as much work as usual.

Premature retirement - added years

Unfortunately, in spite of collective disputes and much negotiation, we have lost the 5 added years that teachers used to be able to get, in some circumstances, if they volunteered for Early Retirement. We very much resent this loss, particularly because we have heard that when the Chief Executive left his employment with Leicester City Council, he received, allegedly 'augmented years'.

The Pay Campaign

At last year's Conference a pay campaign was launched determined to reverse the year on year cut in pay in real terms.

We have steadily built up the campaign by discussing the issue at Association meetings, visiting school groups, sending our letters to school groups, individuals etc.

We are now balloting for strike action and are confident that we will have a good turnout and a positive endorsement of our position.

We have booked an excellent venue for our strike day rally (assuming the vote is positive) and are very pleased to have booked the comedian, Mark Steel to take part in the rally.

The future

We are fighting battles on many fronts and it sometimes might seem that we are fighting a losing battle but we know that our input can usually help to mitigate the worst excesses of government policies. It is not all doom and gloom and we continue to be a cheerful, thriving association. Our meetings are lively, informative and even fun. Our committee has grown and I consider that the association is going from strength to strength. I would like to thank everyone who works so hard for the NUT, sometimes in the limelight sometimes behind the scenes. Every person's contribution is valued and appreciated.

We continue to receive support from regional office. Things have changed there considerably over the last year, with Brian Carter (Regional Secretary), Paul Blake (Regional Officer) and Janice Beards (Principal Officer) leaving.

Paul Rodbourn is our assigned Regional Officer and we are grateful to him for his advice and support (if not his jokes!).

We have lots of new ideas, to do with recruitment and retention, H&S, confidence building etc and would do even more if we were left to get on with our work and did not have to be constantly reacting to the government's endless new ideas and initiatives that are badly thought out and have completely unrealistic timescales. We will continue to do our best to support our members in the year to come.

See you at the pay rally on 24th April!

Jane Rudon

Assistant Secretary (Communication)

Ian Leaver

I have being taking three days per week facility time this academic year which has enabled me to take a much more active role in the NUT office. I now have more experience of dealing with a variety of casework and have been interviewed for BBC East Midlands Today and The Leicester Mercury. I have also continued to work as minuting secretary.

I have continued to liaise with web designer John Bown to develop the Association's website. I would like to propose that we pay him £260 for the work that he continues to do for the association.

With Kath, I have continued to ensure that The City Teacher is produced every month. Since last May, City Teacher has been in full colour and since October it has been produced on our new photocopier which reproduces at a much higher quality. Thank you to everybody who has contributed a letter, an article or an "irritating word!"

I continue to deal with publicity and agendas for meetings and to send campaign information to members.

We now have a Young Teachers' organiser, Samantha Tallis. The Young Teachers' Group is in an early stage but there has been a positive start. There was a very successful Newly Qualified and Young Teachers' function at the start of term; thanks to Anne Blair for getting that off the ground again.

The NUT quiz was again well attended with over thirty members competing for the trophy. This year won by Soar Valley College.

We are the only association in the East Midlands with over half of serving teachers in the NUT. Membership has continued to grow over the past twelve months and stands at 1846 members which is our highest ever. Recruitment at Leicester University was again successful despite the tat handed out by the other teacher unions. I think most students and certainly the majority of serving teachers realise that what is important is that they are members of a campaigning union that fights for teachers.

Ian Leaver

Assistant Secretary (Campaigns and SEN)

Peter Flack

This has been another very busy year. Both through the union itself and through Teachers' Consultative Committee we have been engaged in a number of campaigns to protect members in city schools. In addition I have been involved in a wide range of casework representing members. The most significant of these was a legal action against the local authority for personal injury arising from work related stress. This resulted in the council admitting liability and settling the case with a six figure payment plus all union legal costs. This was an important victory.

Conditions of Service

The Union, via TCC, fought a protracted campaign in defence of the use of added years for teachers who prematurely retire. In may 2007 the council announced that it had decided to withdraw this facility. The union made clear its objections but was told that all employees should be treated the same and non-teaching staff did not have access to added years any longer. When the council then offered 'augmented years' to senior officers in December 2007 the union wrote to the leader of the council, Ross Willmott, objecting and demanding that this be equally available to all employees. The union is also currently pursuing increased rates for travel expenses for centrally employed staff eg. SNTS.

Revised Consultative Arrangements

Arising from the move to Children's Services, new consultative arrangements were proposed. We were able to ensure that these broadly matched those proposed by NUT via TCC. We now have a Joint Consultative Committee which includes Unison, UCU, GMB and TGWU. We have agreed a format for a new Schools and Settings Consultative Committee to replace TCC but this has yet to be ratified by the non-teaching unions.

Education Forum

Following a series of meetings about what we want from education in Leicester NUT helped to found the Education Forum. This draws together teachers, academics, FE staff, governors and LA staff. The Education Forum developed a Charter of Education for Leicester based on principles that relate to NUT's national policy, bringing down the barriers. It has also arranged a meeting for June 24th with guest speaker Terry Wrigley talking about his book, 'Another School is Possible'.

Save Our Schools Campaign

Following the leaking of information that Leicester LA faced privatisation if school performance was not improved, NUT jointly with Education Forum organized a public meeting in defence of city education. This was well attended, widely reported in the press and led to the setting up of the Support Our Schools Campaign. This now has the support of all the main unions including heads' unions and non-teaching unions plus the Trades Council and Leicester Social Forum. The campaign has achieved a great deal in terms of widening the scope of the LA Action Plan and changing the tone of actions in schools. One bulletin has been issued to schools about the campaign and another will go out at the start of next term. The campaign has also organized a 'We Are Proud of Our School' Art competition. At the end of April the campaign is hosting a public meeting with Sheila Lock (Chief Exec of the council) and David Kershaw, lead officer on the Action Plan, as speakers. There will also be campaign speakers and Ralph Tabberer, Director General of the Schools Directorate of the DCSF, has agreed in principle to also speak.

NUT Heads and Principals Group

In collaboration with Steve Boyce I helped to initiate a Heads and Principals Group. This brings together NUT heads on a roughly monthly basis to ensure that they receive clear guidance on NUT policy and that they can draw to the attention of the union concerns they have. Arising from this we were able to challenge the implementation arrangements of the LA's Single Status agreement for non-teaching staff. Subsequently, the Head of Corporate Human Resources was suspended pending a disciplinary enquiry into his actions. This group has also been able to engage in discussion with David Kershaw about the Action Plan for Transforming Schools.

Peter Flack

Treasurer

Nic Gavin

Here is a report of the audited accounts of the City of Leicester Teacher's Association.

In 2007 as part of Trade Union Law a random selection of associations have to submit their full accounts, receipts and cheques for professional auditing and it was no surprise that when we sent them to Knox Cropper Accountants at headquarters we passed with flying colours.

We brought forward a credit of £6223 from 2006 and this year our income over expenditure has been a further £6831. This has left us with a surplus of £13,000+.

We now have to pay business rates for the office and other office maintenance costs. Some of these we can share two or three ways with the other user associations.

We have extended our recurring expenditure to upgrade our ability to mail our members very quickly and the logical extension of this is to set up both fax and email fast dial groups so that information can be almost instantaneous. This may entail hiring in clerical support.

As part of dragging ourselves into the twentieth century I would suggest that we look at the purchase of Blackberries for at least one of the resident secretaries, if not three.

The thinking behind this is that anything that takes time pressure of the officers must advantage our members and help the work-life balance for them.

We are getting more involved with other connected organisations and I feel that we have no worries supporting these financially. As Treasurer I feel that unless we have as wide an involvement as possible in deciding which groups we're supporting and why, we could end up with accusations of being too partisan.

I recommend that this report is accepted.

Nic Gavin, Honorary Treasurer (30th year and looking to stand down at the end of 2010. You have been given fair notice!)

H&S Advisor

Andy Haynes

I have been trying to develop the role of Health and Safety Advisor and looking at ways in which I can support school H&S representatives. I attended the annual H&S Advisors briefing at Stoke Rochford in November. This gave me the opportunity to hear about the work going on in other areas of the country and ideas that I am considering developing in Leicester.

I also represent the union on the Children and Young People's Services Safety Committee where health and safety within the authority is monitored and issues of concern can be raised.

I have been developing a database of information and resources that will be available to school representatives when needed.

Teacher stress and the continued presence of asbestos in school buildings remain major concerns for the well being of members. The continuing impact of BSF may also create problems for health and safety within schools and colleges. Members are much more likely to be aware of problems within their own school than anyone coming in from outside. It essential that we seek to recruit, train and support school Health and Safety Representatives within their establishments. This can only be accomplished by having an active and enthusiastic Health and Safety advisor.

Andy Haynes, March 2008