24 June 2016

NUT General Secretary Kevin Courtney has said that the IER’s Manifesto for Labour Law, which will be launched at a free Westminster event on 28 June, “puts us in good stead to build a brighter future in 2020”.

The union chief explained: “With the Conservatives so ideologically opposed to the public sector and to unions, teachers have been especially hard hit by the steady creep of neoliberalism over the last 35 years.

"Teachers’ working conditions are our children’s learning conditions, and with the Government ratcheting up the pressure on trade unions and the public sector, it is more important than ever to protect the rights of teachers and the security of the teaching profession - in order to protect the learning conditions of our young people.

“The Trade Unions Act, which has made it even more difficult for teachers’ voices to be heard, has gone too far. We desperately need a robust strategy to fight back and offer a real alternative to austerity and to the market agenda in our education system. The Institute’s Manifesto provides the legal framework required for a more progressive society and puts us in good stead to build a brighter future in 2020.”

Our Manifesto offers 25 policy recommendations to the next Labour government and has been drafted by 15 leading labour lawyers and academics from the UK’s most prestigious universities in response to Labour’s Workplace 2020 initiative announced by Corbyn in May.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Minister for Trade Unions Ian Lavery will join Kevin Courtney and leaders from the CWU, TUC, UNITE, FBU and BFAWU to speak at the launch next week.

Click here to register your place at the launch