By Ray Fulcher
MELBOURNE — At a mass meeting of teachers on May 3, the Victorian State Teachers Association (VSTA) Rank and File Group called for the suspension of standing orders to discuss the case of John Glazebrook.
Four months ago, Glazebrook, an active unionist from Cranbourne Secondary College, was called before an inquiry and found to have breached Teaching Service Order (TSO) 140, which forbids any teacher to make public comment on the government or the directorate without permission. He was consequently sacked. At no stage was Glazebrook's competency as a teacher called into question.
At a November 5 delegates meeting, two months before he was sacked, Glazebrook tabled a motion opposing TSO 140. The motion said that "TSO 140 exists to intimidate teachers and to discourage critical public comment on government policy. It is undemocratic, anti-teacher and an affront to the provisions of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights."
Although the executives of the Federated Teachers' Union of Victoria (FTUV) and the Victorian Secondary Teachers' Association (VSTA) both agreed to consider the motion, which was supported by 22 members of Glazebrook's branch, so far neither union has endorsed the principles in it.
Both unions have opposed Glazebrook's sacking, but have failed to inform their members of the sacking, and have actively tried to censor activists' attempts to inform members.
Glazebrook believes that only through publicising his case and building solidarity among other unionists, will he be reinstated. Earlier this year, at Glazebrook's request, 13 rank and file unionists wrote a letter to both of the teachers' union journals to inform members of his plight. The journals refused to print it on the grounds that the matter was still before the Merit Protection Board and would adversely affect his chances.
Following their refusal, the letter was sent to union branches in the Northwest Region. By late term one, positive feedback was being received from several branches.
Two weeks ago, Jude Cazaly, on behalf of the FTUV executive, sent a letter to all secondary branches and the 13 signatories stating that the FTUV would continue to support Glazebrook in the courts but that no stop-work would be called on the issue.
The rank and file group's motion on May 3 was defeated after the union leadership argued that they were doing all they could and it was not an issue. Nevertheless, this case remains an important one with significant implications for the rights of all teachers to freedom of political expression.