The leadership of the NASUWT teaching union has been thrown into doubt after a legal challenge was issued over its appointment of a new general secretary.
The application for an injunction, filed with the courts on Wednesday, came after a potential candidate was barred from running for the post, denying members the chance to vote in an open election.
Matt Wrack’s appointment by the NASUWT executive has already stirred controversy within the traditionally moderate union because of his leftwing background and lack of experience in education.
On Tuesday, the NASUWT, which is Britain’s second largest teaching union, named Wrack as general secretary, filling a vacancy created by the departure of Patrick Roach.
Wrack, a former leader of the Fire Brigades Union, was selected by the executive as its “preferred candidate” earlier this year, meaning he would automatically get the job unless a challenger received enough branch nominations to trigger an open election among members.
But branches attempting to nominate another candidate, Neil Butler, the NASUWT’s national officer for Wales, were told that rules barred him from receiving nominations because he was not a member of the union.
Butler’s supporters say the union has no such rule and had ignored legal advice that he was unfairly blocked under a convention against union employees being members of that union. Butler has worked for the NASUWT for 20 years and before that was a teacher and member. The application for the injunction was in his name.
A spokesperson for the NASUWT said the union was “not able to comment” on the legal action.
NASUWT members who spoke to the Guardian said their complaints about Wrack’s candidacy had gone unanswered. Wrack, who was the general secretary of the FBU for 20 years until losing a re-election campaign in January, would be the first leader in the NASUWT’s history never to have been a qualified teacher or lecturer.
Daniel Pearn, a teacher and NASUWT member, said ordinary members had been kept in the dark about the appointment process.
“We know that [Matt Wrack] has never been a teacher, and for a teacher-led union that doesn’t sit right with me. I feel that the person who goes to speak for us, and for our working rights, should be a teacher,” Pearn said.
“In the past we’ve had general secretaries who have been in the profession, one way or another, as teachers or lecturers. It feels like a really odd appointment to me.”
Pearn said “the biggest sticking point in the process” was the lack of an open vote among members: “If it got put to a vote and Matt Wrack got voted in, it would be a fair, democratic process. But my problem is that they’ve blocked us from that.”
Wrack’s nomination also caused unease among the estimated 1,000 Jewish teachers within the NASUWT, with some arguing that he was insensitive to allegations of antisemitism within the Labour party during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
The Partnership for Jewish Schoolssaid Wrack’s nomination was “deeply troubling”, adding: “The many Jewish members of the NASUWT are likely to find this appointment particularly challenging. Educational unions must represent the interests of all members without prejudice or bias.”
Wrack’s nomination also raised fears of a merger with the National Education Union. While the NEU’s annual conference passed a motion calling for merger discussions “on or off the record”, the NASUWT’s delegates debated a motion ordering its executive to “reiterate publicly that there is no desire by NASUWT to consider any union amalgamation or merger”.