Despite choosing the slightly more family friendly title of “Why must our children pay? Invest in their education” SSY members, particularly those still in high schools support the EIS teaching union’s campaign against cuts. Whilst many other unions have either decided to accommodate to cuts, or fight them solely through industrial action the EIS are opening another front and trying to win over public support. The logic of their argument is clear – cuts in education are due to a financial crisis not of teachers or students making, and will result in poorer education for a generation of young Scots.

These cuts are being made at the same time that almost a billion pounds, £900 million is being cut from university funding across the UK, with SSY members being involved in anti-cuts campaigns like ACAN at Glasgow University.

The EIS site outlines the cuts below,

Already cuts are taking place in local council education budgets.

* 2,500 fewer teachers in classrooms than 2 years ago
* Teacher support numbers reduced
* Books, paper and photocopying materials etc. reduced
* The decision to cut the number of students to train to become teachers.

In the future this will mean

* Teacher shortages
* Increased class sizes
* Impact on teaching and learning, including the new Curriculum for Excellence
* A cut in equipment (including computers) and materials in schools
* A reduction in specialist provision, e.g. classroom assistants, learning support and music instructors
* Fewer opportunities to access further and higher education

They are also being proposed is the same time that its been revealed that inequality has increased under the Labour government – David Cameron and his Eton pals might have a chance to escape public sector cuts for his kids, but ordinary working people will see less teachers and therefore less attention for their children. In both high schools and further education, there is an attack on funding which will attack jobs and young peoples right to a decent education.

The SSP supports a “20’s plenty” campaign, for a maximum of 20 children to each teacher in class. Following this programme would have kept enough teachers employed to stop any of Labour’s previous cuts of Glasgow’s schools. The SSP was recently involved with the Save Our Schools campaign, which fought hard against these cuts.

Support the campaign against cuts in education, turn up to the rally,

THIS SATURDAY – MARCH THE 6TH

ASSEMBLE KELVINGROVE WAY, KELVINGROVE PARK 10.30AM

MARCH AT 11, RALLY AT 12 AT THE SECC

By Andy McPake
Aberdeen SSP

The strike by Unite trade union members of  British Airways cabin crew – a strike that received 92.5% of the vote in a ballot of members - has been declared “illegal” by the courts.

The High Court called a halt to the strike as members who had taken redundancy were able to vote. This technicality is a relic of Britain’s draconian anti-Trade Union laws. Designed in the Thatcher era, the laws are intended to prevent a union from taking quick and decisive action, or, as today’s ruling would seem to indicate, any effective action at all.

This ruling will severely curtail the right of workers to strike.

In a gross understatement, Unite General Secretary Derek Simpson called the cancellation “a disgraceful day for democracy”. Even if all of the members who had taken redundancy had voted AGAINST the strike, there would still have been an overwhelming majority in favour of it.
The implications of this ruling are terrifying. Every time that a group of managers are facing a dispute in future, they will turn to their reliable friends in the courts to declare the strike illegal.

If they can do this to Unite, they can do it to ANY union.  Virtually all union ballots include a few people who have already resigned as the union receives no automatic notice of this; members need to do it themselves. As a former member of Unite, I was receiving ballot papers for elections three months after I left my job.

If this logic was applied to the rich and powerful we would not have a Parliament! Our electoral register is full of people who are not legally entitled to vote; from foreign students and people who have moved, to those who are dead. However, I do not anticipate the High Court will be declaring our expenses guzzling MPs  “illegal” anytime soon!

Any person reading the British press over the past week is likely to regard BA Cabin Crew as a collection of airborne grinches, determined to steal Christmas from Britain’s travellers. Absolutely no consideration is given to the fact that BA management’s job cuts, caused by BA management’s errors, are going to steal every Christmas for the foreseeable future from BA Staff and their dependants.

The vitriol that has been directed against the union members is awful. These workers are not ‘selfish’, as so many have called them. These are ordinary people trying to defend their livelihoods. You may ask if they could not hold their strike after Christmas; but what leverage would they have against management except at the busiest times? Would you rather they disrupted your summer holidays?

Perhaps you are even thinking that they should not strike at all. If you are, I ask you what you would do if your job was at stake? If your wages were to be slashed? Roll over like some supine fool in worship of your boss?  Or fight to defend yourself? The union used the only option that was left after all other forms of negotiation failed.

Let’s make one thing clear: British Airways Management are responsible for this strike, not the workers.

It’s been a pretty busy week. Here’s a wee update of what’s been happening with SSY and beyond…

EDUCATION: Glasgow Uni Tutors Fight for Fair Pay
Post Graduate  Teaching Assistants at Glasgow University could be set for strike action in their ongoing battle for fair pay and conditions. A series of meetings this week among tutors,who carry out the majority of undergraduate teaching at the university, have decided on a series of demands that will be put to university management. Key among them is that tutors are given adequate time to prepare for teaching – currently, they are given twenty minutes per hour of teaching time. University management are, however, now looking to cut this back so that the already miniscule preparation time will not be allocated for repeat classes, amounting to a serious cut in pay.  Other demands include a maximum class size for tutorials, and a guarantee on the number of essays they will be asked to mark per hour, both of which currently set by individual departments, some of which insist on tutors marking  4 x 2000 word essays… per hour.

SRC careerist bureaucrat wankers make a great job of SCABBING on the 2006 lecturer’s strike. We can be sure of lots more of the same this time!!

Glasgow Uni Left Soc. have offered their full support to the tutors in their fight, which comes as new principal Anton Muscatelli arrives at the uni, with plans to ‘restructure’ faculties into ’schools’ with departmental budgets said to be ‘under review’. This will, as is happening at Strathclyde Uni, inevitably mean cuts, which must be resisted wherever they hit. Supporting the PGTA fight for fair pay is an important first step in this battle; there’s much more support that needs to be built, however, before any action can take place – less than 5% of post grad tutors are unionised, for instance. There’s strong grounds for their battle though – the Glasgow tutors face some of the worst terms and conditions of any Scottish university and at current rates of pay often find themselves carrying out hours of unpaid work – which, averaged out, comes out at less than the minimum wage.

POSTAL WORKERS: Royal Mail posties are looking set for nationwide strike action after an overwhelming majority voted in favour of industrial action last week. This is an important struggle to save one of the last mass nationalised industries, and to resist creeping privatisation, cuts in service and redundancies. The SSP’s Richie Venton spoke to post workers in the CWU union about the coming action, which you can read here. See you down the picket lines…

ANTI-MILITARISM: Students from Strathclyde and Glasgow Uni Stop the War Coalition succeeded in shutting down the army recruitment centre on Queen St. on Friday. Despite intimidation from the police, who requested names and addresses, and threatened arrest, of nearly everyone at the demo, the 30 strong group persisted and blocked off the entrances to both ends of the building for around an hour. SSY also hit the streets of er, Buchanan Street on Saturday afternoon with petitions and leaflets calling for troops out of Afghanistan, and got a warm response from the public, sold MILLIONS of Voices and Leftfields, and brought the revolution that bit closer. Maybe.

LEFTFIELD: The time has come… for a new Leftfield fanzine! Yay. This means one thing though.. in fact, several things, like not getting any sleep for two weeks, but also.. WE NEED ARTICLES!! And photos. And pictures. And cartoons. And RECIPES. And like, other lefty fanziney things. Send submissions to scottishsocialistyouth@hotmail.co.uk during the next couple of weeks.. pleaaase! Hopefully we’ll have it done in time for the SSP’s upcoming march for jobs in Springburn,which now looks set to take place on Saturday 7 November . Get it in the diary folks!