Margaret Thatcher's old bag is sold

London - A handbag that once belonged to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was sold for 25,000 pounds (40,000 dollars) at auction at Christie's in London Monday.

The black leather bag, which Thatcher wore during a 1985 meeting with former US president Ronald Reagan, was among prize lots during an auction for charitable causes, Christie's said.

It was sold to an unnamed Cypriot who was a student in Britain when Thatcher was in power between 1979 and 1990.

The glossy black leather bag was auctioned for charity by Lord Archer who said: “It automatically makes you think of Lady Thatcher.”

It was bought by an unnamed Cypriot who is said to be a “great admirer” of the former Conservative leader.

Lawrence Dallaglio’s match ball from England’s victorious 2003 Rugby World Cup final also went for £12,500 at Christie’s in London.

Strikes to go ahead as unions attack

STRIKE by up to 750,000 teachers, civil servants and other public sector workers is set to go ahead after last-ditch talks with Government Ministers failed to end a bitter row over pensions and spending cuts.

Members of four trade unions will walk out for 24 hours on Thursday, closing thousands of schools in England and Wales and disrupting Government departments, courts, driving tests and job centres.

Picket lines will be mounted outside schools, colleges, universities, Parliament, courts and Government buildings such as the Treasury.

Tens of thousands of pupils in Yorkshire will be affected with the possibility of further strikes being staged after the summer holidays as well.

The National of Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union are striking over public sector pension reforms which they claim will make their members pay more, work longer and receive less.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is staging its strike in a dispute over pensions, job cuts and pay.

In a joint statement after yesterday’s meeting with union leaders, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander claimed the talks had been “constructive” and urged public sector workers not to strike while negotiations were on going.

However union leaders dismissed this. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It was disappointing that the meeting proved to be no different to any of the others – it was a farce.”

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “We are disappointed, but not particularly surprised that the Government has yet again refused to give us the information we need to carry out negotiations about teachers’ and lecturers’ pensions.

TUC welcomed moves by the Government to meet again next month after ministers recognised the funding basis for local government workers was different.

General Secretary Brendan Barber said progress had been made, but there was still a “major gap” between the two sides on plans to increase the pension age, raise contributions and change the way pensions are determined from retail price index (RPI) to consumer price index (CPI) inflation.

David Evans, Wales secretary of the NUT, said: “The UK Government have gone into these talks with one thing firmly in their minds – to force through changes without a proper consultation process and without providing proper information that is needed.

“That is no big surprise but the unions themselves will still remain committed to seeing if we can continue to talk.”

Unison leader Dave Prentis said they would await two further meetings in July before deciding whether to ballot for strikes.

Steve Belcher, regional organiser at Unison Cymru, said: “We are not in the dispute on Thursday but we fully support the decision to take action by other trade unions and the likelihood is we will be going down a similar route ourselves.”

University and College Union General Secretary Sally Hunt said: “The average lecturer faces an increase of around £90 a month in exchange for reduced benefits.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said pensions were “not a devolved matter and our focus is on minimising the impact of any industrial action on our public services.”

Strike call-off seems unlikely

Warning came as talks between the Coalition and union leaders were condemned as a “farce”.

Up to 30,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are due to strike over changes to their pensions. Picket lines will be mounted outside Jobcentres, courts and Government buildings across Scotland.

One union leader even branded the talks – the last chance to avoid widespread, co-ordinated industrial action on Thursday – a “farce”.

The Coalition appealed for strikes to be called off while more talks were planned for next month.

But the gap between the two sides remained so wide there was no chance of halting the action by 750,000 teachers, lecturers and civil servants over controversial pension reforms.

The run-up to the meeting had been overshadowed by an increasingly bitter war of words. The Coalition’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Lib Dem Danny Alexander, provoked fury by insisting it would press ahead with plans to make employees pay more and work longer.

After the talks, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, said: “In terms of the key issues, we are looking at a major gap.

“But the Government has indicated some movement in their thinking and we’ll be having more talks. This is a serious process and we are committed to trying to reach agreement.”

However, he defended the unions striking this week, pointing out they had held ballots.

He said of their members: “They are showing anger and real fears for their pensions that are under threat.”

Mr Barber added further strikes in the autumn were a “possible step”.

Dave Prentis, leader of Britain’s biggest public sector union Unison, has already threatened the most sustained campaign of co-ordinated action since the General Strike in 1926 unless the dispute is resolved.

Unison plans to ballot 1.2 million workers for strike action and is pressing ahead in case talks fail.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Prentis said: “There is still a massive cavern between us.”

One union insider close to the talks said: “They are negotiating on things on the edges but won’t budge on the key issues of paying more, getting less pension and working longer.

Other public sector workers will strike against the pensions shake-up and job cuts, despite Labour leader Ed Miliband saying it could harm the public perception of their case.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union will picket Jobcentres, government buildings including the Treasury in Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament, ports, coastguard stations and driving test centres. The union also expects court cases to be cancelled across the UK.

Members of the Prison Officers Association will hold a protest meeting.

And anti-tax avoidance group UK Uncut will also be staging protests.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, who led the negotiations for the Government alongside Mr Alexander, said he was disappointed the strike would still go ahead and said it was “quite wrong” while talks were still ongoing.

However, the public is sympathetic towards the strike, a poll revealed.

The ComRes survey for the Independent found 49% agreed the workers had a legitimate reason to strike, with 35% disagreeing. And 78% agreed it was unfair for them to pay for bankers’ mistakes before the financial crisis.

Striking rhetoric from Michael Gove

Members of both the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) are protesting at the Government's planned pensions reforms.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has warned that teachers are in danger of sullying the reputation of their profession, while they insist that they have no option.

Mr Gove blasted the teachers' unions for the "premature" strike which will disrupt the lives of thousands of students and their parents.

The Tory Cabinet Minister said that the Government are still negotiating with the unions in the hope they can prevent the walk-out and even appealed to parents to assist in schools.

Good teachers won't want to go into the profession because it won't be worth their while to do so.

Mary Bousted of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers

"I think it is wrong for people who are working hard to have their lives disrupted in this way," Mr Gove said on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show. "I think it is right that schools to stay open.

"I do worry that taking industrial action, being on the picket line, being involved in this sort of militancy will actually mean that the respect in which teachers should be held is taken back.

"The public have a very low tolerance for anything that disrupts their hard-working lifestyles.

"You don't see hospital consultants going on strike and I don't believe teachers and head teachers should.

"It's within their rights, it's a civil right, but I think it is wrong in terms of the reputation of the profession.

As for "damaging respect for teaching", in 2010 the Co-op undertook a survey of the general public to ascertain the most trusted and respected jobs. At the top of the list were doctors, nurses, paramedics, firefighters and, yes, teachers. Occupying the bottom of the league table were estate agents, journalists, bankers and traffic wardens. Propping up the table, fresh from the expenses scandal, were … politicians. As Mr Gove has already worked in two of the most disrespected professions, would it be possible for him to retrain as an estate agent or a traffic warden?

National Union of Teachers

National Union of Teachers (NUT) is a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is a member of the Trades Union Congress. The Union recruits only qualified teachers and those training to be qualified teachers into membership and currently has over 295,000 members, making it the largest teachers' union in Europe.

Activities

The NUT campaigns on educational issues and working conditions for its members. Among the NUT's current policies are:

Fair pay for teachers

Work-life balance for teachers

Against academies

Abolition of National Curriculum Tests (SATs)

One union for all teachers

Like most unions, the NUT offers legal protection to its members.

The NUT has established two financial services companies for teachers, Teachers Assurance in 1877 and the Teachers Building Society in 1966.

History

The NUT was established at a meeting at King's College London on 25 June 1870 as the National Union of Elementary Teachers (NUET) to represent all school teachers in England and Wales combining a number of local teacher associations which had formed across the country following the 1870 Education Act.After toying with the idea of changing the name to the National Union of English Teachers, the name National Union of Teachers (NUT) was finally adopted at Annual Conference in April 1889.

In 1919, in response to an NUT referendum approving the principle of equal pay, a ginger group, the National Association of Men Teachers (NAMT), was formed within the NUT to further the interests of male teachers. The NAMT changed its name in 1920 to the National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) and seceded finally from the NUT in 1922. The secession came about indirectly following a decision at the NAS Conference that year to prohibit NAS members from continuing to also be members of the NUT after the 31 December 1922.The NAS is now amalgamated into the NASUWT, the second-largest teaching union in the UK.

The NUT first established its offices at 7 Adam Street, Adelphi, London WC on the appointment of the first full-time Secretary in 1873. In 1889 it moved its headquarters to Bolton House, 67/71 Russell Square, London WC. In 1915, it moved its headquarters to Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD, where it has remained ever since. except during the Second World War, when the NUT rented Toddington Manor in Gloucestershire in order to avoid air raids.

General Secretaries of the NUT

The General Secretary is the leader of the NUT. Since 1989, the General Secretary has been elected by the union's membership, with each term lasting five years.

Christine Blower, 2008–present (acting until May 2009)

Steve Sinnott, 2004-2008 (died in office)

Doug McAvoy, 1989-2004

Fred Jarvis, 1975-1989

Sir Edward Britton, 1970-1975

Sir Ronald Gould, 1947-1970

Sir Frederick Mander, 1931-1947

Sir Frank Goldstone, 1924-1931

Sir James Yoxall, 1892-1924

Thomas Heller, 1873-1891

William Lawson, 1870-1873

State workers to strike after talks fail

National Union of Teachers (NUT) has written to schools throughout England and Wales telling them they could be in breach of employment law and health and safety regulations if they keep schools open during the pensions-related dispute.

The letter emerged as Downing Street yesterday backed plans for parents to staff classrooms during the walkout, with ministers appearing increasingly determined to face down militant trade unions.

David Cameron will make a last-ditch direct appeal to public sector workers today not to go on strike on Thursday, insisting their current pension arrangements are “not fair to the taxpayer”.

The Prime Minister will address the Local Government Association’s annual conference to warn council workers and teachers that the “situation is unsustainable” and that they must accept changes.

Downing Street sources said that Mr Cameron would be “robust” but would attempt to set out a “fair argument” over why reform of pensions was essential.

"Four unions balloted their members and reached that decision, and that reflects the degree of anger and worry and real fear there is across everyone who works for public sectors that their pensions are under threat," he added.

Up to 750,000 teachers and civil servants will take part in the biggest industrial action since the coalition government came to power in May 2010.

Mark Serwotka, head of the civil servants' Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said "not one jot of progress" had been made with the government, which wants public sector workers to pay more into pension schemes and retire later.

Unions are also angered by proposals to inflate pension payouts according to the usually lower consumer prices index (CPI) rather than the retail prices index (RPI).

PCS members will be joined by workers from the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union in Thursday's strike.

Thousands of schools are expected to be hit by the action.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude argued that the talks had been "constructive".

"This is a genuine consultation to which we are committed in order to try and agree a way forward with the unions, including on how to implement the changes on contributions set out in the spending review,