of those who were unemployed in the NUT survey were women.
Despite this situation, the NUT leadership has provided no support or acuon aeast cuese reatneanaes They have stood by and allowed the victimisation of Mike Colley, a teacher who went on last October's demonstration against the cuts organised by the South East Region TUC. Teachers all over the country have had to take action off their own bat, refusing to cover for absent colleagues.
That's why my association is supporting the lobby of our next National Executive meeting, to demand action. But we have not got much confidence in the present leadership of the union to carry out a real campaign. I am also active in the London Action Committee which is campaigning for a no-cover policy and compiling its own register of unemployed teachers.
I hope that the Assembly realises the connection between the cuts in education and the general problem of unemployment, I also hope that it decides to take some action. One of the star speakers at the Assembly will be Ray Buckton, the leader of the train drivers' union ASLEF. recent contribution in the fight against unemployment has been to persuade drivers on the Eastern Region to return to work after many of them had struck against the cuts in services and alterations in work rotas. Now they are to be left to fight out the implementation of the cuts depot by depot, as a substitute for a national fight against the very fact of them.
It is not surprising that this has happened.
ASLEF and the other rail unions, despite their so-called joint campaign against the cuts, had already accepted at a national level the cuts which the Eastern Region men men were fighting at a local level.
Stronger opposition is now developing, however. On the Southern Region, drivers at Gillingham, Brighton, Guildford and elsewhere have met. Boldly - and bravely. given the abject capitulation of their leaders - they have decided tr to start strike action against the cuts on 20 April with or without official backing.
LEADERSHIP This is the day on which the cuts on the Southern Region are due to be introduced. Drivers stand to lose £15 a week in earnings owing to reductions in weekend shift working.
'If they cut just one train, we will cut the lot', a drivers' spokesman told a Daily Mirror reporter last week. is to 'save the railways and help the travelling public in the long term'.
This weekend Assembly delegates must confront Buckton with a single question: will you or will you not support and extend to other regions the Southern Region drivers' action? No amount of evasion and rhetoric about 'fighting for socialism by Buckton must be allowed to obscure the issue. Buckton's most
----- pull-quotes -----
1g tion'