NASUWT Watch: The Union Fat-Cats

According to my Union magazine, the General Secretary of the NASUWT Christine Keates has a salary package worth touching-on £140,000 per year. I wonder who in the educational profession earns anywhere near that? That is a package not far off the Secretary of State himself.

As a sub-paying member I phoned the NASUWT HQ to ask them if anybody would like to justify that sort of wage. I was put on hold for a few minutes, before being told nobody was available to speak to me. I then asked to speak to Ms Keates herself; after all, she ought to know why she is paid so much. I was told that she was away - or busy, they weren't quite sure which - and they would pass on a message.

This was 2 days ago and still nobody has returned my call.

Can I suggest that the Union movement might have slightly more public support and credibility if its leaders weren't such obvious fat-cats themselves? Why shouldn't union leaders take, for example, the average salary of their members - I'm sure that would get support amongst the public and ordinary union members. As I'm overly-generous why not offer them the average plus 25%?

I look forward to Ms Keates calling me back; and in the meantime I may just look into other ways of advancing this cause.

Labour plans £4bn worth of NHS cuts

The small print of the budget shows a £4bn reduction in the NHS budget.

Why is it that if this were a Conservative budget, the media, Unions and the Labour Party would call them "CUTS". There would be protests, direct action, campaigning & scare stories of vulnerable people dying.

But it's OK, because this is a Labour budget, so they are only "efficiency savings".

Phew.