Socialist teachers organise

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IF the NUT bureaucrats had ventured into County Hall on October 16, they would probably have felt the same cold, creepy feeling that afflicted them at the NUT conference in Scarborough.

In the dark and cheerless corridors of County Hall, things were moving, plans were being laid.

The Socialist "Teachers Alliance (STA) now six years old, was holding its Annual General Meeting.

During thost six ycars STA has grown from a small but determined opponent of the sectarianism of Rank and File Teacher, to a serious left opposition in NUT.

That growth in the influence of STA was reflected in the make-up of the AGM. Most of the main areas -Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Fast Midlands, Yorkshire, were represented, with many experienced leit activists among thein and the membership was reported 25% up on the previous year.

Transferring that growth into effective groups in each area to actively involve new members was agreed as the major priority as well as improving communications.

The morning session had Phil D'Arcy from the Croxteth Parents Action Committee outlining the fight that they were waging to prevent the closure of the local comprehensive school and the need for support for the occupation of the school which is still being run using volunteer teachers.

While the NUT on Merseyside had expressed support, the biggest question is what the union should actually do.

The AGM agreed to take physical supp•...

There we. two sets of workshops during the das ranging from the left in the NUT and the union rules to gay rights, building STA, and the women's caucus following on from the STA Positive Action conference.

In the final session, the major campaigns for the coming year were discussed. One of the great strengths of STA in the past year has been its ability to present a principled alternative on the NUT Executive: through Bernard Regan and Ken Jones.

In a resolution on general perspectives, Bernard Regan spelt out the absolute centrality to the SIA of the developments clearly taking place in the unions, particularly through the health strikes and the importance of fighting through the NUT to clearly unite and identify their struggles with other workers both in Britain and internationally, in Poland, in Central America, ete.

The AGM, also agreed to take up a campaign directed towards the 1984 NUT conference on affiliation to the Labour Party around the new STA pamphlet on the But equally important in terms of the politics of STA was the decision made on sovual oppression. The AGM at last came out with a clear commitment to take up a fight in the union and particularly at conterence on gay rights, centred on reactionary anti-gay laws.

Such a campaign,_ in alliance ..with the Gay Teachers Group, is long overdue, given the reactionary stance of the NUT towards gays, which includes expulsion of members convicted of cottaging "offences"

Another major decision was to take up the question of positive action in a more positive way, both in NUT and in the STA itself, concentrating on eradicating the dominance of men in union in which the majority the membership are women - a situation still reflected in STA itself.

Finally, the AGM agreed to press for a change to the NUT rules which would allow members to discuss political issues both nationally and internationally and make policies on them. If successful this would be a major breakthrough, ending the ridiculous non-political stance of NUT at a time when all the fundamental

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3p" Anc no.105 October 21

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up the campaign immediate. ly, with both financial and