Montana labor news., 1938-11-03
TEACHERS UNIONS
IN ENGLAND

lnOSe accustomed 10 thinking Oh
the United States as the home of
progressive education and England
as a tagging imitator would be sur
prised to know the strength of the
teachers union movement in Great
Britain. Over eighty per cent of
all teachers in England r union
lied. Their organization, the Ma
tional Union of Teachers of Eng
land, is recognized by the govern
ment as the official representative
of the teachers, and all negotiations
involving the welfare of children or
teachers are handled through this
body.
At the annual convention of the
American Federation of Teachers
held in Cedar Point, Ohio, this sum
mer, the British organization was
represented by its president, Mrs.
Elsie V. Parker, the fourth woman
to hold this position in the sixty
eight years of the Unions history.
In her address before the American
Federation she told some of the
achievements of her own Union.
Tenure, retirement pensions, and a
salary schedule-those goals which
American teachers dream about
have all been secured directly
through the National Union. These
are only three from a long list of
worthwhile accomplishments.
The National Union has estab-
lished the right of every teacher to
an inquiry before he or she is asked
to resign. If the Union decides that
a teacher has been wrongfully dis
missed, they pay the full salary of
the teacher from the time he is dis
missed until the time he gets work
again, if he ever does. Only two
such cases have occurred in the last
ten years-which would indicate that
the Union has contributed to the
security and dignity of the teachers
job
Pensions for teachers were entirely
the work of the National Union of
Teachers. Mrs. Parker said: I'VE
drafted every clause in the bill, and
we got the government to accept it,
lobbied the members and had it
achieved as a law of the country,
so that in itself it is worth member
ship in the National Union of Teach
ers." It is a national scheme, re-
curing every teacher to pay five
per cent Of his salary, matched by
five per cent from the national gov
eminent, and in addition, two and
one-half per cent paid by the local
states. When teachers retire, they
retire on half the salary that they
are receiving-plus a lump sum that
is equal to at least one years salary!
British teachers unions take an
active place in national politics. AL
though they are not definitely linked
with any one political party, at
every election the National Union
runs twelve teachers as members of
parliament, splitting the number
equally under the three parties
Labor, Liberal, and Conservative.
Mrs. Parker added that when teach
ers come to political action, they
naturally find their best friends are
the Labor friends, and we find it
much easier to get Labor teachers
into parliament"
The National Union has achieved
many improvements in the welfare
of children, as well as among
teachers. Longer school terms,
smaller classes, and proper feeding
of underprivileged children are all
to be credited to the teachers union.
With its large membership, the
National Union has built up a large.
money reserve, which has been
saved to a large extent to pay
teachers salaries in case of unfair
dismissal, or for the work of the
Union. But every year, large sums
are given for the welfare of children,
or for things of interest to education.
They have given thousands to the
children of Spain and of China. They
have recently given $4,000 to Lon
don University to have the library
built by the National Union of Teach
ers; land as long as London exists,
there will be a tablet to say that the
Library of the London University
was built and paid for by the Nation
al Union of Teachers" Such gifts are
a part of the Unions broad general
program of %popularizing education.
The story of the National Union
of teachers and its accomplishments
shows what strength American
teachers could gain by unionization.
Tenure and pensions might be reali-
ties in this country as well.
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