NUT and ATL vote to merge into National Education Union

Two teachers unions have voted to merge to become a single “super union” to create a stronger voice to speak up for those working in education and challenge government policy.

With almost half a million members, the new National Education Union claims to be the biggest union of teachers and education professionals in Europe and the fourth largest trade union in the UK.

Members of the National Union of Teachers and its smaller sister union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, voted in favour of the merger, which has been described as “a game changer” in the education landscape.

Teaching unions including the NUT and ATL are campaigning against government plans to increase the number of grammar schools, and are fighting for more funding for schools, which are facing real-terms budget cuts.

Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, said: “This is a fantastic result for members of both unions and for education. For too long governments have played divide and rule amongst unions. Today marks the beginning of the end of that. The NUT and ATL both have proud histories, but speaking with one voice we will be a stronger force standing up for education, teachers, the wider education profession and for the children and young people we teach.”

He continued: “The NEU will be a game-changer in the education landscape and I am delighted to be jointly leading it forward over the coming months and years.”

More than 97% of NUT members and 73% of ATL members who voted in the ballot were in favour of amalgamation. The NEU, with more than 450,000 members, will start in September, with the two former unions operating parallel sections under a joint executive committee until full integration in 2019.

Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary said: “With nearly half a million members, we will speak with a stronger voice on behalf of education professionals and the children, young people and adults they support. The government will need to listen when we speak on the key issues facing education: funding cuts, excessive workloads, the recruitment and retention crisis, the chaotic exam reform and accountability.”

Bousted and Courtney will stay on as joint general secretaries until 2023 when a single general secretary will be elected for the new union.

Prof Howard Stevenson, director of research at the University of Nottingham’s school of education, said the merger of the two teaching unions was a development of international significance.

“The amalgamation of NUT and ATL is on a scale that has not been seen previously, and may be the beginning of a trend, as teachers everywhere face common pressures,” he said. “There is no easy evidence that fewer, bigger unions necessarily generate better outcomes for teachers. There is however considerable evidence that employers and governments deliberately seek to exploit divisions.

“Making this more difficult will make it harder for government to impose change without wider support and may presage the need for a new relationship between government and teacher unions.”

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers welcomed the merger, which he said created a powerful voice within education. He said: “NAHT has worked constructively with both the NUT and ATL in recent years on a range of issues, most recently school funding. There are a huge number of issues NAHT can continue to work closely on with the NEU, and we look forward to doing that in the months and years ahead.”