AN UNPOPULAR government is a dangerous and unpredictable thing. 

They will take desperate measures in a bid to cling onto power. As divisions within the parliamentary party multiply, does Rishi Sunak really believe that he can win the battle for votes by attacking workers and their unions? 

History has taught us that trades unions are never far from the top of the Tory hit list. 

The general election will be influenced by many things — including the 14 years of decline presided over by the Conservatives in Westminster. On their watch, our public services have been traduced. In education, teachers have seen their pay eroded, their workloads increased massively, and the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and their pupils have plummeted. 

Against this backdrop: why is the government pursuing an agenda to silence teachers and other public-sector workers? 

We don’t have to look too far for the answer. A government that has wrecked the economy, presided over the worst cost of living crisis in generations, and demonstrated searing levels of incompetence will inevitably want to deflect attention away from itself and to silence any form of opposition or protest.

Their playbook is predictably to divide and rule, and to engage in a broad attack on our democratic rights, freedoms and institutions, including our trade unions. 

We have seen attacks on fundamental rights — the Nationality and Borders Act, Police, Crimes, Sentencing and Courts Act, the Elections Act, Public Order Act, Illegal Migration Act, and now the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act. 

We have seen this government stopped by our unions and repudiated by the courts over the use of agency workers to break strikes and over their Rwanda plan. But their response has been to defy the law. 

Suppressing public protest, withdrawing rights to UK citizenship, removing the right to vote, threatening the right to strike — these are the priorities of a government that believes that its only hope of winning the next general election is by advancing a toxic and divisive agenda. 

Not content with attacking our members’ right to strike, the government is also seeking to walk away from their fundamental obligations to respect the right to collective bargaining. 

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wants to avoid the prospect of further widespread industrial action by teachers prior to a general election by delaying the pay review body process. It won’t work. 

At the NASUWT, we have already declared a dispute over the government’s attempts to frustrate the pay review body process and to breach the agreement reached in the summer when our members balloted to take national industrial action.  

And we will not hesitate to take action to ensure that our members’ voices are heard. 

So why is this government hell-bent on attacking our teachers?

It is increasingly clear that Gillian Keegan and Rishi Sunak are attempting to drive a wedge between teachers, parents and the public. 

Every parent wants their child to be in school. That’s what teachers want, too. But what parents and our members also want is for every child to have access to quality education that is well resourced and funded properly. Instead, this government has delivered more than a decade of real-terms cuts to school and college budgets and, with the Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement, there is even worse to come. 

Parents know this is the same government that has neglected children and young people for well over a decade. They know the harms inflicted by Keegan and co. and they know the harm done to children by this government’s reckless and incompetent handling of the Covid pandemic, as well as by the refusal of ministers to deliver the levels of investment needed to secure urgently needed education recovery. 

Parents also know what this government stands for when they see their children suffer through cuts to special education needs support, record waiting lists for mental health assessments, and record numbers of teacher shortages. Parents can see through those ministers who had the gall to claim that children enjoyed being taught in marquees and portacabins as school buildings crumble. 

So when this government talks of Minimum Services Levels in education, what do we say? We say it’s time that we had a government that is committed to creating world-class conditions in our schools and colleges — delivering real and lasting improvements, not more of same, or worse, for our children and teachers.

Right now, what the country needs is not our precious teachers being threatened with the sack if they don’t comply with an intimidatory MSL work notice. Instead, let’s see the Prime Minister issue notice to the country by calling a general election. 

At this weekend’s special TUC Congress, we in the NASUWT will be affirming our demand for the rights of all workers to be protected, and for the repeal of the MSL laws. 

We stand shoulder to shoulder with any trade union member who is victimised as a result of this pernicious Tory legislation.