The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has become the latest education union to affiliate with the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The news that the NAHT will join the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), National Union of Teachers (NUT), University and College Union (UCU) and National Union of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) as affiliate members of the TUC was announced yesterday. It takes the current number of TUC-affiliated unions to 54.
It means the NAHT’s 28,000 members will effectively have joint membership of both organisations and will be able to take part in policy discussions with other unions within the TUC. It also means the only teaching leaders unions in England not affiliated are the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and Voice, the union for education professionals – which represents teachers, heads, deputies and support staff.
NAHT General Secretary Russell Hobby, pictured, said: “We are delighted to be joining the TUC family. Over the long term the best interests of students, teachers and school leaders are inextricably linked.
“There is a great deal we can do together to create great places to learn and great places to work.”
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Education matters – to pupils, to parents, to communities and to the UK economy, which is why it is so good to see the NAHT joining the TUC’s family of education unions.”
Picture: Chris Ison/PA Wire
The reference to ASCL being the only teaching union in England not affiliated to the TUC is incorrect. Voice, the non-striking union, is also independent of the TUC.