The 126th STUC Annual Conference opened on Monday 17th April 2023 in Dundee Chaired by President Pauline Rourke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a strong EIS delegation this year which included EIS President and delegation leader Andrene Bamford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a packed three-day agenda where delegates debated over 100 motions and emergency motions, and the EIS delegation made valuable contributions to the debates in several motions throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henry Kilgour spoke first from the EIS delegation on composite motion B in support of maintaining trade union rights. They remain under attack and further threat from the Westminster Bill which must be defended at all costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past President Heather Hughes spoke in support of the motion on long-covid, reminding delegates that teachers staffed school hubs in the early days of lockdown to allow other essential workers to work and sections of the economy to continue functioning. Furthermore, teachers were in schools mixing in large numbers under different mitigations to the rest of society, many months before restrictions were lifted across the country, teachers were at risk and at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nuzhat Uthmani, Chair of the Glasgow BAME Network spoke in support of the motion on online abuse and shared candidly, hers and colleagues\u2019 experiences of suffering horrific racist online abuse while carrying out parts of their teaching roles on decolonizing the curriculum. Eddie Burns debated on motion \u201cThe Freedom to Disconnect\u201d describing various platforms like Google Classroom and Seesaw which keep educators switched on long after the workday ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicola Fisher then moved the first of the key motions for the EIS, motion 27 \u201cPoverty and Education\u201d urging the Scottish Government to put more financial resources towards reducing poverty and the attainment gap. The motion passed comfortably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Smith spoke in support of motion 28 \u201cA better Deal for Workers\u201d reminding delegates of the impossible task of completing a teacher\u2019s workload in the contractual 35 hours. Sheila Waddell debated in support of the motion on schools and Public Library Services which passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On day two, President Andrene Bamford spoke on the second key motion for the EIS, composite B \u201cFair Taxes to Fund Public Services\u201d saying, \u201cWe need more transparency of Scottish Government spending while schools and all public services are struggling with the strain of underfunding\u201d. Furthermore, Mick Dolan supported composite D \u201cThe Cost of Living Crisis\u201d reminding delegates that the people elected to look after us make political decisions that keep the poorest poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adam Sutcliffe supported composite E \u201cDefend Cultural Workers \u2013 Public Funding for Creative Industries,\u201d telling those gathered, \u201cMusic is quite simply joyous, working-class young people who get the opportunity to play music can change the world with their talent. Cuts to the arts are a cut to life blood\u201d. Anne-Marie Harley of EIS-FELA gave a rousing speech in support of composite I \u201cPublic Sector Pay Strategy, \u201cWe [FE] are the Cinderella service and we should not be funded on buttons!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susan Quinn then spoke on the EIS\u2019s third key motion of congress, amended motion 41 \u201cPublic Sector Budgets and Resourcing of ASN.\u201dShe said, \u201cTo plan for and support children with additional support needs and the teachers who teach them, we simply need more funding!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past president Carol Thorpe approached the podium to speak in support of free period products closing the EIS contribution on day two of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day three continued apace with plenty of contribution from the EIS delegation. Adam Sutcliffe rose to the podium again supporting composite N on anti-racist workplaces, Susan Quinn on motion 99 \u201cAfghanistan and Women\u2019s Education\u201d and again on behalf of General Council on amended motion 111 \u201cReferendum Third way\u201d which was withdrawn, and a GC statement was adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were a number of emergency motions once the main business had been worked through. Nick Cimini of EIS-ULA approached the podium in support of sister Union UCU and emergency motion 3 \u201cUniversity Marking and Assessment Boycott and Punitive Deductions\u201d Urging all to support UCU in their fight. EIS-FELA\u2019s Anne-Marie Harley moved emergency motion 4 \u201cFighting for The Future of FE\u201d by asserting that \u201cFE is an essential service for those experiencing barriers to education and it must be invested in and protected from cuts\u201d. The motion was carried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susan Quinn took to the podium for the final time at Congress to eloquently move emergency motion 6 \u201cFighting for Teachers in Hutchesons\u2019 Grammar School\u201d outlining that management at Hutchesons\u2019 are forcing their teaching staff to give up their membership of the Scottish Teachers Pension Scheme and into an inferior defined contribution scheme using the tactics of fire and rehire. The rallying call was to support Hutchesons\u2019 EIS and NASUWT members in their fight to reverse management\u2019s decision which drew applause from those gathered in the delegation hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 126th STUC Annual Conference opened on Monday 17th April 2023 in Dundee Chaired by President Pauline Rourke. There was a strong EIS delegation this year which included EIS President and delegation leader Andrene Bamford. There was a packed three-day agenda where delegates debated over 100 motions and emergency motions, and the EIS delegation made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1897"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2605,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1897\/revisions\/2605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}