This year’s TUC Congress was attended by twelve EIS delegates, each of them there to represent the EIS and our members on a range of issues from within the education sector and our society as a whole.

At the heart of this year’s proceedings was the TUC’s Unity Works campaign, built on the conviction that working people still have the power to shape the future, for themselves and for the country.

This was exemplified by the strong contributions of trade unionists and the calls to action made by TUC council and delegates.

Mark Smith, EIS President, led this year’s delegation describing the congress as “amazing” and that he was “proud to lead such a strong delegation”.

Here, the SEJ takes a look at the contributions of this year’s delegation.

Standing Up for Quality Education

EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley made a strong call for proper funding of education when she moved motion 41 of conference: Education Funding.

“My union believes fundamentally that Education is a quintessential social good. A good for our young people, for individual citizens, for communities and for our society.”

“While populist and far right politicians and activists are stoking division, we see education as an essential ingredient in the antidote to the poison of the far right.”

“I urge you to support this motion because the children and young people in our schools today are worth investing in…and the quality of their education now will determine the quality of our future society – its wealth, health, and prosperity; its cohesion and our very democracy.”

In speaking in support of motion 40, Crisis in post-16 education, Mick Dolan of the EIS noted the current underfunding of the further and higher education sectors and joined the UCU in calling for a national campaign for better funding of the sector and better terms and conditions for those who work in it.

“If we want a society that believes in evidence, reason and truth, we have to invest in the education system that creates it.”

Paula McEwan spoke to motion 45, Investing in early years: giving our children the best start in life.
“Preventative investment in early years pays long term generational dividends. We need to spend on our weeist ones now to reduce the spend they’ll need in their future.”

EIS President Mark Smith further contributed to education composite motion 10 on insufficient provision for Additional Support Needs.

“The issues arising from increased number of pupils with ASN is exacerbated by increasing class sizes, the reduced number of ASN specialist teachers and reduced number of Pupil support Assistants. We are asking for ring-fenced funding to support genuine inclusion in our schools.”

Tackling the Far Right

Julie Chrystal spoke to motion 13: Tackling the far right and the weaponisation of women’s and girls’ safety.

“We have been fighting this fight since 1792 when the vindication of the rights of women was published. We cannot step back, we must invest in the future, invest in women and girls both through public services and through our trade union movement.”

Susan Quinn then spoke to the EIS amendment to motion C05: Countering far right attacks and defending education. She referenced the dangers of mis and disinformation and bias that can be present when using AI.

“Human-centred approaches to education are more important now than ever before in context of the rise of the far right. We must ensure that AI is properly governed by teachers in schools.”

Tax the Tech

Eddie Burns spoke to motion 27 – C17, Taxing the tech giants. He noted the extreme profits of big tech companies, denouncing it as a “wealth extraction scandal”. The motion called on the TUC to lobby the government to introduce a windfall tax on big tech giants, Eddie declared that it was, “Time to tax Apple and Co until their pips squeak.”

Emergency Motion 3: Justice for Colombia

Susan Quinn made the final contribution to conference of the EIS delegation when she spoke in support of emergency motion 3 expressing solidarity with trade unionists and activists in Colombia.

“Our sisters and brothers in Colombia need our support. Teachers face dangers on a daily basis for promoting peace through education.”

The EIS is a long-standing affiliate of Justice for Colombia and we will continue to support the rights of Colombian trade unionists and activists.