Building support for a solid strike on March 26

I was glad to be sitting on the small chair of an infant classroom this lunchtime, so that I could discuss with the staff of a Lewisham Infants' School about the reasons for our strike action on March 26.

After a quick run through the issues, and some queries answered about pay deductions, the attitude of other unions and the refusal by Michael Gove to offer any meaningful talks, it was clear that NUT members would be supporting the strike. This school was one of the few in the borough that had traditionally had a majority NASUWT membership - but no longer. Teachers were going to go and speak to those colleagues still in the NASUWT to explain why they felt that teachers should be taking action together.

Face-to-face contact like this is still the best way of answering questions and queries - but, with limited time, it's impossible to meet in every school. That's why I've also produced a PowerPoint that runs through the issues which can be downloaded from: http://goo.gl/leh1DX . Here are just some of the slides:

Download this presentation from http://goo.gl/leh1DX

As well as school meetings, NUT Local Associations are also meeting to make plans for action. I was pleased to attend a General Meeting in Lewes last night where the discussion also included consideration of nominations for NUT General Secretary. Just like a meeting of West Cheshire NUT that I could not attend in person on Monday, I was grateful that, having discussed my call for a clear calendar of ongoing action to win a clear set of demands, both Associations voted to nominate me to stand in June's General Secretary election.