Tributes to union leader O'Kane

Eamonn O'Kane supported a merger between teaching unions

The education world has been paying tribute to union leader Eamonn O'Kane, who has died of cancer.

Mr O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), was 58.

His death on Saturday, which came after a long illness, was announced by the union's acting general secretary, Chris Keates.

She said the NASUWT and the union movement would be "devastated".

Mr O'Kane died in a London hospice with his wife Daphne and two daughters by his side.

Appointed head of the UK's second-largest teaching union two years ago, his death has brought tributes from union and political leaders, including the prime minister.

Ms Keates described him as a highly respected and skilled leader who managed to broker some key deals for teachers.

"In the relatively short time he had been general secretary, he had made a major impact on the education world securing two of the best agreements on pay and conditions we have seen in 20 years," she said.

The whole of education owes him an immense debt Education Secretary Charles Clarke

Education Secretary Charles Clarke later said Mr O'Kane was "an outstanding teachers' leader" whose early death was "deeply tragic".

"He understood that the future of modern teacher trade unionism lies in partnership and he worked tirelessly to achieve that," Mr Clarke said.

"The whole of education owes him an immense debt."

Prime Minister Tony Blair also joined in the tributes. He said: "Eamonn O'Kane was a very distinguished leader of his union who gave an enormous amount to the teaching profession."

Mr O'Kane was born in Northern Ireland and worked as a secondary and grammar school teacher in Belfast for 20 years before becoming NASUWT deputy general secretary in 1989.

He advocated a merger of the three main teaching unions into a "super-union" to represent the whole teaching sector.

Other union leaders remembered him as a moderate who would work with the government rather than against it.

The head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Mary Bousted, said: "He championed social partnership and working in partnership with the government.

Split over classroom assistants

"He was an architect of the national agreement (aimed at cutting teachers' workload) and will be greatly missed."

Mr O'Kane believed that the agreement, which will give more responsibility to classroom assistants, would help cut the burden on teachers, but the largest teachers' union, the NUT, refused to sign it.

However, the NUT's general secretary Doug McAvoy said Mr O'Kane was respected by everyone in education.

"It is a very sad loss. As general secretary he had a vision about where his union should go and what it should do," he said.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said Mr O'Kane was "full of wisdom and courage" and always determined "to do his best for his members and the education service."

"It is tragic that the time given to him to lead his union has been cruelly cut so short," he added.