The teachers were lobbying the authorities to implement their pay deal. Lobbying is mostly associated with civil society activism and is about persuading duty bearers, mostly government to do what a group thinks would be beneficial to its membership or the larger society. It is the climax of any advocacy initiative requiring its own special strategy. As the teachers must have realised, it is one thing to sign a deal and another altogether to get it implemented. One lesson that the Knut leadership should learn from its recent experience is that for any advocacy and lobbying initiative to succeed organisation, strategic thinking, information, communication, outreach and mobilisation are required. The recent strike lacked in these essential ingredients as Knut failed to educate key constituencies, potential allies and the general public on its grievances. It did not help matters that another teachers union - Kuppet and the umbrella Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) did not seem to read from the same page with Knut on the matter.I do not know whether Knut has sat down to review their strike action but methinks the timing of their industrial action was wrong. Another public strike immediately after the MPs strike only served to erode potential public support that would have been critical to its success. In any case, the teachers did not just wake up one morning and discovered that their 1997 deal had not been implemented. They knew about it even before the Jubilee coalition formed the government. Measured gains Imagine how different the situation would have been had Knut made their pay deal a pre-election issue with all the aspiring presidential candidates and their political formations in the run up to the polls.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 18:13:14 +0000