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Lessons to be learned from the war on teachers
HOWARD STEVENSON explains that the recent successes of the teaching unions were the result of a conscious turn to politics and a strategic approach to building workplace power
The strategic shift to building workplace organisation, combined with a commitment to outward-facing campaigning and alliance building, has been a key part of the teaching unions recent success

AT the opening of the National Education Union (NEU) annual conference delegates were informed that 195,564 members had participated in a rapid e-consultation on the government’s pay proposals and that an enormous 191,319 (98 per cent) had voted to reject the offer.

The result is extraordinary for two reasons. First, and most obvious, is the sheer size of the numbers showing both a strength of feeling, but also a deep level of engagement by members in their union. The numbers voting exceeded the number who participated in the original industrial action ballot.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the result is extraordinary for what it represents — the collective power of organised teachers combined in a union.

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