John McAnulty

11 July 2006
 

The decision by the Department of Education in the North to put in four commissioners to run the South Eastern Education and Library Board is a minor victory for the workers movement. It prevents the government hiding behind one of the many layers of quangos it operates and claiming democratic support for the education cuts.

The Department took the decision on Thursday after the board failed to meet a deadline to approve cost cutting measures.  The government had warned board members that it was their last chance to make the difficult decisions which would keep them financially solvent. The measures included cutbacks in special units and in the number of classroom assistants. Some would take effect as early as September.

The board met under threat of legal action by the government. It had been given until 1800 GMT to implement cost-cutting measures which would affect special needs pupils.  The government threat was counterbalanced by a successful Trade Union campaign which saw hundreds of protesters at the doors of the committee room, warning that they would be held to account if they gave in to the government. 

The trade union campaign was successful because the UNISON and NIPSA contingents had the active support of rank and file militants and some special needs parents.  Some elements within the board used information of an earlier split between teachers and ancillary unions to argue for the cuts, but intensive lobbying within the teachers unions meant that INTO and NAS-UWT representatives attended the board to oppose the cuts and representatives of both unions attended the demonstrations.

This small coalition was sufficient to prevent the board supporting the government, unlike an earlier victory for the government on the Belfast board, where it is now implementing cuts.  It is insufficient to prevent the government rolling ahead the cuts in the SEELB area.  However it retains importance as an exemplar for a broader campaign.  A successful campaign would draw on the militancy of the rank and file members. It would involve parents and it would be implacable in putting pupil need before government book-keeping, especially when so much of the book-keeping is tied to PFI and back-door privatisation of public services.

Given the sclerotic condition of trade unionism in the North and the commitment of the union bureaucracy to their own version of partnership, there is a long way to go, but the militants involved in this battle can be justifiably proud of a minor victory.