| From Unity, 3 February 2007 |
Unity is strengthby Gary DennisLast Monday the University and College Union (UCU) lecturers marched thought the city of Belfast in their demand to have parity of pay with teachers. This was the sixth day of strike action by the UCU. Marching shoulder to shoulder with them were the leaders of the trade union movement in Ireland and Britain, representing a number of teachers’ unions, NIPSA, T&G, Derry and Belfast Trades Council, many with banners.A rally was held in the Spires, and some excellent speeches were made. Jimmy McKeown, the UCU regional secretary, reported back on meetings that had been held and in particular one with Peter Hain. He spoke about the struggle that the lecturers are facing. He congratulated all those involved, in particular Monica McGonigle and Brain McAvoy from the Belfast Branch. Barry Lovejoy brought greetings of solidarity from Paul Mackney. Roger Kline, the UCU representative in the FE sector, told Peter Hain to “take time off from his election campaign and to give parity of pay to Northern Ireland lecturers, as he did with the FE sector in Wales early last year.” Unfortunately space does not permit the reporting of all the speakers from the NASWU, UTU, and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, but the excerpt from Peter Bunting’s (ICTU) speech below reflects the support and solidarity of all who spoke. “I am here today with one simple message: the entire trade union movement in Northern Ireland is with the lecturers and fully backs their struggle for fairness, justice, and honesty. I feel privileged to share this platform with your leadership and honoured to address workers, those at the chalk face of the education of our people and at the coal face for straight dealing with employers. “FE lecturers in Northern Ireland are the only group of teachers and education workers anywhere in the UK to whom the government’s 3½ per cent cap has applied. That this is happening to highly educated men and women whose sole vocation is the enlightenment through learning of people is bitterly ironic; the irony being those three little words that we remember Tony Blair saying, Blair’s little mantra: ‘Education, education, education.’ “This is a society where 47 per cent of school-leavers are without qualifications and 25 per cent of adults are functionally illiterate . . . There is an acute skills crisis among the Protestant working class, and the fixation of certain unionist politicians for preserving the 11-plus will not do anything to help them. In fact it makes the situation worse. A major skills drive is needed, and the delivery mechanism is human. You are those mechanics of the human mind . . . “Once upon a time there was a party that knew this. A century ago—exactly a hundred years ago last week—the first Labour Party conference was held in this city at the Wellington Hall in Belfast. Keir Hardie, one of the great orators of his day, addressed it. The same conference also left in its wake one Liverpool-born man who would convulse the trade union movement in Ireland: James Larkin. Larkin and his generation learnt the virtues of three other little words, those distilled by an African-American poet: educate, agitate, organise! “For many here today, although teachers, you are learning something that is never taught formally and yet once learnt can never be untaught. Where there is justice, basic morality demands redress. Where there is unfairness, the balance must be righted. Where there are lies, truth is the best weapon. That is why you are here today, and that is why I am standing here with you. You, comrades, have right on your side, and you will win! Thank you, brothers and sisters.” Many speakers referred to the centenary of Larkin. Despite apparent substantial media presence, the UTV evening news gave a short report, and the BBC gave none. |
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