As teaching unions and the Department for Education go head-to-head over a proposed strike this Thursday, it is worth looking at Michael Gove’s past involvement in industrial action. In an interview with the New Statesman in 2010, the education secretary discussed his role in the National Union of Journalist’s fight against the Press and Journal in Aberdeen in the late 1980s. Gove’s former union activities certainly gives the recent dispute an interesting context.
Gove was a trainee reporter at the Press when the industrial dispute broke out, which, he argues, tied his hands when it came to whether or not he should take part.
“I didn’t think the dispute was a good idea. I was against going on strike, but I’d only just arrived. The majority of friends and colleagues felt very strongly about this. I was the new kid. There were people whom I liked and admired who felt they were being mistreated. I had joined the union. I felt that if you were in an organisation, you should generally respect the rules and the quirks of decision-making. I thought it was wrong to go on strike but I didn’t feel that the principle was an ignoble one.
Critics have levelled charges of hypocrisy at the Education Secretary. This amusing photo of a young, bespectacled Gove on the picket line adds to that feeling. Gove, however, defends NUJ’s strike as it had – he claims – legitimate grievances, something which he appears to think that the teachers lack.
“We weren’t striking because we were demanding a massive pay increase at an inappropriate time. There was an issue. The strike ringleaders were victimised. We can argue whether this was provocation on the management’s part or the union’s naivety. We were all dismissed and it became a very bitter dispute. And in the end most people never worked for Aberdeen Journals again. Some chose to cross the picket line, some were selectively re-employed.”
Gove’s days as a rabble-rousing, unionised hack are, however, well and truly over. He left the NUJ in 2007 – two years after he entered parliament – because of the union’s stance on Israel. “Tory leaves union” is not exactly headline news. But, as Francis Beckett points out in the excellent profile, going on strike for union recognition as a trainee journalist in 1989 “required. . . courage”. It is somewhat surprising, then, that Gove has taken such an aggressive stance on the teaching unions. Rather than using his own experiences to try and reach a compromise, Gove has gone in looking for a fight. He’ll certainly get one. Whether anyone will win remains to be seen.
Content from our partners
Related
