[page 5]
The Annual Conference of EIS, Scotland's largest teachers union, took place at the Mac Robert Centre, Stirling on 2nd-4th June. The proceedings represented a major victory for the strategy of General Secretary John Pollock in transforming EIS from a professional association into a trade union. Despite last minute blocking by the reactionary headmaster clique, delegates overwhelmingly endorsed affiliation to the TUC and a change in the EIS constitution to bring the union within the terms of the Trade Union and Health and Safety at Work Acts.
Pollock's base in the EIS, and the transformation he has brought about, rests in part on his ability to insulate teachers from the redundancies which have taken place in England. This he has achieved in a deal with his labour cronies on the Regional Councils whereby Pollock has accepted substantial worsening of conditions without industrial action, allied to a tacit support of management shifting the burden of cuts onto other unions.
Hence pro-Pollock delegates at the conference threw out motions attacking all public spending cuts in favour of defending only EIS members, and supported an Executive call to oppose industrial action against cuts.
The main divide at conference was thus between Pollock and the head masters. The political left were largely on the side lines as a result of a consistant inability over the last two years to offer any national opposition to Pollock's combination of left wing bravado and appeals to "leave it to John". Yet Pollock's domination at a national level is not without the beginnings of a new, if fragmented, local challenge. The conference marked a new development with many EIS local associations in areas suffering worsening conditions, displaying a definite, if confused, discontent with the bureaucratic machine Pollock is building up An unparalleled number of challenges to the minutes of the Executive and National Council were sent up from local associations, and so delayed proceedings that 27 out of 36 motions were not discussed. There were 14 separate amendments to proposals from the salaries committee.
Here Pollock is on weaker ground. The EIS bureaucracy is very poor in material terms, with many less fulltimers than other unions of the same size. His ability to stymie local opposition currents bureaucratically is limited. Recently, in Edinburgh, the teachers from Firhill School called a meeting in the EIS offices to protest at the ending of tree dinners for teachers. EIS, having blundered by letting the rooms, tried to bar these EIS members from their own union building. The local backlash forced Pollock to retreat and let the meeting go ahead. Little wonder
that Conference voted to tighten up disciplinary procedures against members taking unofficial action.
The reasons tor these developments are not hard to find. The worsening crisis means EIS can no longer hope to let the other unions carry the can. Scottish Socialist has been informed that Pollock's star has waned with the Parliamentary Labour Party, as the Government are forced to carry out more cuts. Even Pollock's delivery of the most abject support for the social contract to come from any union conference will not avoid what is coming. Erosion of living standards will put wages on the agenda as an issue in the new term. Already the Further Education Section of EIS is calling for an interim pay award in October, a fact expunged from the FE conference report in the EIS journal. Having defeated the headmasters Pollock is preparing to take on the members.
The lesson of the 1977 EIS conference is that the left must sieze hold of this situation while Pollock's bureaucratic grip on the normally libertarian, individualist, teaching profession is still relatively weak. A left opposition to Pollock must be constructed which opposses all expenditure cuts and all forms of wage restraint. The largest section of the left in EIS is the Rank and File group which is supported by Scottish Socialist. However Rank and File has proved weak in the past year at organising on a national level. For instance, the excellent work done by Rank and File in defence of the Strathclyde janitors was not really turned into a national campaign against Pollock's scabbing. Further Rank and File has not been sufficiently flexible towards joint action with other groups, a necessity in a union where the left is so weak. The call by Rank and File for a campaign to raise the nessary 2,000 signatures for a special general meeting to discuss salaries could be a first step in organising united opposition to Pollock on a national basis in the new term.