[division of the union is officially opposed to…]

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division of the union is officially opposed to compulsory transfer but its officers negotiated a compulsory transfer agreement. This was a direct consequence of the cuts in the Inner. • London Education • Authority's 1982-3 budget -cuts which they supported.

Southwark was particularly hard hit and there was a wave of militant protest action in local schools during the summer term. This culminated in the 1 July strike called by the Southwark NUT officers after a vote in their branch.

Three of the officers have been suspended and temporarily banned from office. Amanda Leon: and Gil Lowenstein have been expelled because it is their tEms "second offence"

Only two members of the Executive - Ken Jones and Bernard Regan, both members of the Socialist Teachers Alliance - , opposed the expulsions. • The NUT's notorious Rule •8 prevents members taking any form of industrial action without prior approval from the Executive.

Teachers will be comparing their leaders' inability to lead a single fight against the cuts with their determination to stamp out militancy.

NUT members should be flooding the Executive with resolutions demanding the immediate full reinstatement of all the Southwark officers.

TONY GARD was sent packing with his tail between his legs.

On the other hand, the SCPS speaker, Peter Palmer, chairpersen of the DHSS section, recommended rejection on behalf of the SCPS executive, and was enthusiastically applauded. [SCPS organises middle grades in the civil service, CPSA lower grades].

The members clearly saw that this "revised offer' was in reality no different from the one they had already rejected. Only the form of words had changed Unfortunately the NEC still includes some people who believe the deck should be cleared ready for the annual pay claim and therefore regard this strike as a waste of time. That's basically the position that Militant supporters take, for instance.

What they don't seem to realise is that if we lose this one, it will inevitably weaken and demoralise the members when it comes to the nearer Christmas, hardship claims are going to become more frequent from the strikers.

The other possibility is to intensify the dispute locally by bringing out unemploy. ment offices. We are already considering action in one of the emergency payments centres (there are three in Birmingham and one in Oxford). The November 15 mass meeting voted for this, not in order to close them down (the centres would still run on volunteers and scabs), but to increase the pressure on management.

And we're tightening up on procedures in the UBOs. For instance, we're asking members not to manually correct forms from DHSS offices, but to return them and so put more pressure on the scabs.

Feelings are definitely rising among the strikers. There is no way we'll accept any sell-out. The only question we're asking is how best to extend and strengthen the