'Unsubtle attempt to present Conservatives as workforce friendly' says the NASUWT

16 February 2010

Commenting on the announcement that the Conservative Party is proposing workers' co-operatives to run some strands of public service, including primary schools, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union, said:

"The principle of workers' co-operatives is a sound one. However, the proposition cannot be divorced from the other policy proposals of the Conservatives, including plans to slash public expenditure, the severance of local authority involvement in schools, and plans for diversity of provision and providers including 'free' schools.

"In this context the proposal for workers' co-operatives appears to be an unsubtle attempt to present the Conservatives as 'workforce friendly'.

"The obsession of the Conservatives, and indeed some other political parties, with changing school structures and diversifying providers, is a huge and unsettling distraction for the workforce, pupils and parents. It is also far more expensive for the public purse.

"If the Conservatives genuinely want to give the workforce a voice and increased control then there are more effective and efficient ways to do this than encouraging them to be school providers in competition with the private and third sectors.

"They should introduce polices that support and enhance public service values and ethos; reform the school accountability system to enable teachers to have more professional agency; maintain the national framework of pay and conditions of service to ensure that all teachers are rewarded fairly and have working conditions to enable them to work effectively to raise standards; abandon proposals to increase even more the freedom and autonomy of schools; pledge to maintain and increase the current levels of investment in schools; commit to the provision of equality, health and safety and fair employment legislation; and engage constructively and work in partnership with the trade unions who represent the workforce.

"These would be manifesto commitments worth having and the NASUWT would be pleased to work with them and any party on such an agenda."

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