ORGANISING ACADEMY

Andrew

Andrew Robbins – NUT Organiser! Somewhere around the summer of 2008, I took the difficult decision to leave behind my blossoming future as an Elvis Presley impersonator and take up the gauntlet of organising full-time in the labour movement!! A tough call you might think – after all it’s hard to beat Elvis when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll! The problem was, Elvis didn’t much bother with picket lines or the peace movement – and I certainly do! So I downed my white cape and shiny Las Vegas glasses, sung my last Suspicious Minds, and headed straight to the Graceland of the workers – the TUC Development Centre, Exeter… It certainly was a tough weekend, but clearly someone in the sky (most probably Elvis) was shining down upon me that fateful Sunday afternoon, when (wearing my favourite Beatles T-Shirt – mainly for the benefit of Carl Roper) I was told I had been selected for a TUC interview! Two weeks later I had passed and it wasn’t long before I had been selected as the NUT organiser for Kent and East Sussex!!! Finally, I was going to do for trade unionism what Elvis had done for music… (Make it fashionable again, get the masses involved and inspire other people to great things)! As a long standing socialist, anti-privatisation, community and peace activist, I have engaged in numerous campaigns. At the age of 17, you would have found me occupying the University of Luton. Following the decision to abolish the humanities department, I and a group of students elected an occupation committee and engaged in direct action lasting two days (I was the look out)! This provided a valuable first experience of organising. The action made the press and highlighted the market-driven disruption to higher education, which Luton students were experiencing. I have organised a number of campaigning and community projects over the years. In 2005 I founded ‘Musicardo’ – a now well established community arts project in Luton. Together with Beds Senior Citizens’ Arts and Recreational Forum, University of Bedfordshire Student Union and Luton Sixth Form College (amongst others) Musicardo has supported International Older Persons’ Festival and continues to organise multicultural community projects such as ‘Community for Humanity’. In 2009, I founded Luton Love Music Hate Racism – in response to the recession, rising social inequality and the potential for far-right growth in these circumstances. Luton Trades Council, SERTUC, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Esther Rantzen and a host of other trade union, community, political groups and performers – have all supported Luton LMHR. It represents successful organising on a profound scale! When English Defence League gangs invaded Luton in May 2009 – unleashing racist violence and hatred towards the local community – Luton LMHR was ready and prepared! I and the committee organised a huge 2000 strong, one-day music festival. We recruited massively and made the racists look pathetic. Shortly afterwards the Home Office granted an order banning the EDL from marching through Luton. Luton LMHR - 1 Racist Bigots - 0 !!!!! My ambitions from here onwards lie with the NUT. I view the union’s role within the school environment as invaluable. The union’s commitment to fairness for teachers and students alike; it’s principled stand against privatisation and its support for the environmental movement, is what makes it such an important trade union. With the NUT, I will be working hard to organise, expand and involve teachers in a progressive agenda – making sure the union remains the powerful force for good which we can all unite behind!