Interview Feature

On the eve of their retirement, Emily Jenkins talks to Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney about their time leading the NEU.

FIVE years ago, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), representing teachers, and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), representing educators in schools and colleges, amalgamated and became the fourth biggest trade union in Britain with 450,000 members. The National Education Union (NEU) was born.

At the helm were ATL general secretary Mary Bousted and NUT general secretary Kevin Courtney, who had committed to the daunting task of leading this shiny new union through its first five years as joint general secretaries.

From day one, they presented a united front, so much so that their names are now inextricably linked. “If I had a pound for every time a member has asked me ‘are you Mary, from Kevin and Mary?’ I would have collected a small fortune,” laughed Mary during her last annual conference speech in April.

It was her last because, from 1 September, ‘Kevin and Mary’ will be no more, as they step down to make way for new general secretary Daniel Kebede. I sat down with them to reflect on how far the union has come since its creation and what made their partnership such a success.

‘I thought he was very tall…’ It quickly becomes clear that they are not just colleagues, but good friends.

They first worked together in 2011 during the pensions dispute. The Government, led by David Cameron, had proposed reforms to public sector pensions that would have left workers out of pocket in the short and long term, and the ATL and the NUT decided to work together to build a ballot for strike action.