NASUWT: Big business is handed schools on a plate
The National Officers and Pensions Committee of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, met today to review the outcome of the meeting with the Secretary of State on 19th January 2012 regarding the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
The NASUWT remains deeply concerned about the unacceptable nature of the process and the arbitrary timescales being imposed by the Treasury for completing vital and complex work which will have a profound impact on the teaching profession.
Chris Keates, General Secretary, said:
“The ‘Heads of Agreement’ document signed up to by four unions before Christmas is set to wreak massive injustice on the overwhelming majority of teachers.
“The NASUWT will be seeking to mitigate the worst aspects of the ‘Heads of Agreement’ by demanding that teachers do not bear an unfair burden of unjustified increased contributions whilst employers see the level of their contributions reduced.
“The NASUWT will be insisting that the Government obeys the law by providing a detailed Equality Impact Statement and by exercising its duty to advance equality.
“The scandal is that none of these changes are about making the Pension Scheme viable, affordable or sustainable.
“These changes are part of the Government’s privatisation scheme to make education more attractive to predatory business interests.
“Yesterday, under the guise of performance league tables, Ministers published the financial position of every school in country. This was not to give choice to parents but to provide a menu from which businesses can choose easy takeover targets out of which they can make a quick profit.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
ATL, ASCL, NAHT and Voice agreed to sign up to the ‘Heads of Agreement’ which was published on 20th December 2011.
NASUWT, NUT, UCAC, UCU did not sign up to the ‘Heads of Agreement’.
The NASUWT is currently engaged in ongoing industrial action on pensions, pay, workload and job loss.
Further information on the NASUWT industrial action can be found at: www.nasuwt.org.uk/IndustrialAction
Stuart Gannon
NASUWT Press Office
Tel: 020 7420 9681
Mobile (and out of hours contact): 07966 198894
Address: 5 King Street , Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8SD
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