Teachers’ Union Branch

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31771, 30 August 1968, Page 12

Teachers’ Union Branch

A Christchurch branch of the National Union of Teachers was formed yesterday by 11 votes to one in a meeting of 19, after discussions for nearly two hours with Mr P. J. Walsh, of Palmerston North.

Mr Walsh paid his own expenses and also paid for the Trades Hall meeting room. He said that the union had no affiliation with the Federation of Labour or any political party. Mr Walsh said the new union now had about 600 members—several hundred in Auckland, 100 each in Palmerston North and Wellington, and groups in Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and Nelson. Membership ranged from kindergarten to university teachers.

The new union hoped to get unity and massed negotiating power, Mr Walsh said. Present fragmentation in

teachers’ organisations for each level of education achieved little. The new union had as objectives smaller classes, more classrooms, retention of teachers now leaving the profession, closer liaison among all levels, modern syllabuses, and a curriculum which was relevant to the times and furnished with all necessary books and equipment. The union also sought a greater say by teachers in the way money was spent on education. It was not good enough for headmasters to be preoccupied with counting tea coupons and running galas and teachers to be lugging crates in bottle drives and controlling coconut shies to raise funds for their requirements.

A national conference to fix policy and appoint officers would be held in November, Mr Walsh said.

During an hour of questions, several speakers said they could not see what the new union could achieve beyond the scope of existing organisations.

Mr Walsh said he was on a committee to inquire why teachers did not attend existing organisations. It appeared that they lacked real drive. “If the Government refused to accept a reasonable case of the union we would take direct action—but I can’t say what that would be,” Mr Walsh said. Another great appeal of the new union was that it did not include headmasters like the other organisations. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, under which the union would register,

classed principals, headmasters, and heads of departments as managers. When another speaker said the union would be swamped with pressure groups from various sections of the profession, Mr Walsh said Palmerston North experience, with members from kindergarten to university, showed much in common. The class struggle among teachers was a myth. Mr I. Cant was elected president, Mr I. Finlayson secretary, and a committee of nine was appointed.