June 23, 2023 at 7:58 am
One Profession-One Union
LSEs have won. The failed attempt by Upe to remove LSEs from the ‘Educators group’ is a victory for LSEs but also for all Educators. Many may not have understood the implications of the attempt which was carried out by Upe to remove LSEs from the ‘Educators group’. Some may not have realized that it is what Upe was requesting the Industrial Tribunal to declare. The ‘Educators group’ consisting mainly of seven grades (LSEs, Teachers, KGEs. EOs. HOS, HODs and AHs) is a very powerful group in terms of negotiations and industrial relations and it has a considerable bargaining power. We have experienced it various times, even during the Covid-19 period when a last minute dispute and strike announced late in the evening by the MUT yielded almost a hundred percent success rate. Who in the right state of mind would want to weaken this ‘Educators group’? Who would send continuous messages to the employers and mostly the Government claiming it is ‘weakening’ this ‘Educators group’, so much that it initiated an Industrial Tribunal case to get a decree about it? Who would leave this ‘Educators group’ just for the sake of the cause when knowing that the bargaining power of the smaller group (LSEs) would be weakened overnight? The decree of the Industrial Tribunal is clear. It did not accept to split Educators, and in declaring so it has strengthened Educators and the MUT towards achieving improved working conditions and financials in collective and sectoral negotiations solely led by MUT.
