To clarify the position as far as the Isle of Man is concerned and dispel any misunderstanding, there will be no ballot of ATL members on the Isle of Man over possible strike action regarding pensions at this point in time. Andrew Shipley, Branch Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers on the island says “As the disagreement is with the English government, it is teachers who are members of the English Teachers Pension Scheme, who have a teaching contract in England or Wales who will be balloted for industrial action; hence members on the Isle of Man will not be balloted”. He goes on to say, “even if there is a decision for strike action as a result of a ballot of members in England, there will not be a strike of teachers on the Isle of Man on this issue. There is however a lot of concern on the island over the issue”. Mr Shipley goes on to say that “Mr Teare, Minister for Education and Children is correct in saying that the DEC do not play a part in pension negotiations and what happens on the Isle of Man in terms of pay and pensions is determined by what happens in England”. In regard to the Hutton report Mr Shipley says, “The ATL has reservations about the Hutton Report and rejects key points of his recommendations from a professionals perspective. We understand what he is trying to achieve but we do not agree with his recommendations as we believe that he has failed to consider the actual jobs being undertaken. The ATL Senior Vice President Alice Robinson summed this up at a recent conference when talking about reception classes, "Can you imagine being a reception teacher and trying to get on and off those little chairs at 68? I think not". The ATL would much prefer to discuss any changes from a position of knowledge rather than blindly making unilateral decisions without a rational basis or consideration of consequences, as the English Coalition Government currently are doing. The negotiated pension changes to the Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) introduced in January 2007 had a mechanism to ensure that the pension scheme was self sustaining, but the government in England has failed to carry out a triennial valuation of the scheme as they should have, preferring to arbitrarily raise contribution rates. We also believe that other proposed changes such as a move to a CARE scheme, changing from RPI to CPI, increases in retirement age which do not consider the roles being undertaken, the ending of access to the TPS for the non maintained sector, have not been thought through carefully, along with their associated risks. The ATL has been mandated by our Conference and Executive to follow up members concerns through seeking a ballot in England and Wales due to the intransigence of the English Coalition government. We have today (May 6th) written to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, asking for steps to be implemented which will allow all parties to get round the table and talk. We live in hope of rational, thorough negotiation as this is the ATL way but we are dealing with a government who are determined to wreck state education in England and which is operating from a narrow, ideological basis”. Ends