Received from: FDA, NAHT, National Education Union
Motion 48 and amendments
The public sector is facing unprecedented challenges after years of austerity and cuts. The ability of public services to deliver the quality provision our citizens deserve is seriously undermined. Leaders and managers in the public sector are in the unenviable position of implementing this government’s agenda whilst trying to protect their services and their staff. Effective, ethical leadership relies upon fairness, transparency and collaborative cultures. The blame for job losses, inferior terms and conditions of employment and job insecurity rest with government, not on the shoulders of leaders and managers (many of whom are union members) in public service who face an impossible task. Leaders stand with Congress in actively opposing austerity cuts. We should not allow government to divert attention away from itself by blaming fellow trade unionists or public servants for its policy failure: it must not seek to pressurise leaders into damaging, morally compromising decisions that harm outcomes for service users.
Congress calls on the government to:
- recognise the damage to society that has resulted from cuts to public services
- reinvest in our critical public services
- incentivise better training for aspiring leaders, including the principles of ethical leadership.
Congress calls on the General Council to:
- lobby government to invest in the public services that this nation needs
- recognise that responsibility for austerity measures lies with government
- reject any attempts to divide our members as workers and leaders in the public sector
- publicly resist attacks designed to undermine the impartiality and professionalism of civil servants and other public sector
Mover: National Association of Headteachers
Seconder: National Education Union
Supporter: FDA