On February 13, NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) councillors elected two new left candidates to the executive of the union at the first NSWTF Council of the year.
John Gauci was elected as one of eight association representatives to the union executive. He is secretary of the Inner City Teachers Association and a member of the Activist Teachers Network (ATN), a rank-and-file group of activists in NSWTF.
Gauci told Green Left Weekly, "Our election was a consequence of left collaboration.
"Over the past few years, comrades from a range of socialist currents, who were once rivals, have established mutual trust and respect. We caucus together, share insights and support each other's resolutions. Working collectively, we are far more effective and have won respect on council. This is only the beginning."
Lindy Nolan was elected as one of two custodian members of the executive. She is media officer of Canterbury-Bankstown Teachers Association and a founding member of Promotion of Public Education (POPE), another rank-and-file activist group.
The issue of performance pay leading up to the NSWTF's 2009 annual conference was debated. ATN and POPE delegates successfully shifted the resolution on the issue significantly to the left.
The increasing level of left unity in the union is also evident in the joint ATN-POPE publication of the old POPE activist pamphlet Class Action at the February council.
The February council endorsed the resolutions of the November 2009 Australian Education Union federal executive and the January AEU conference calling for "non-cooperation" in the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests in 2010 if they are used by the media to produce and publish league tables.
League tables were published by the Sydney Morning Herald on January 29, using data from the MySchools website.
[Pat Donohoe is a NSW Teachers Federation councillor, secretary of the Canterbury-Bankstown Teachers Association and a Socialist Alliance activist.]