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28. OTHER TEACHING UNIONSIn all sectors of Scottish Education, the EIS competes for members with the other teachertrades unions, but holds the policy position to pursue teacher unity wherever possible.In school education, the largest other union is the Scottish Secondary Teacher’sAssociation (SSTA) with around 7000 members. The EIS and SSTA have co-operated on anumber of important campaigns in the past, are both affiliated to STUC and EI, and meetregularly to discuss common concerns.In the University sector, the other main union is the University and College Union which hasaround 7,000 members.The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT) are theonly other TUC affiliate and UK union which recruits competitively with EIS in Scotland.NAS/UWT claims a membership of around 7,000, mainly in the West of Scotland.The other teacher representative organisation in Scotland is VOICE (formerly PAT) a “nostrike”association not affiliated to TUC or STUC, with its main focus of activity in Englandand Wales.At the UK level, the EIS enjoys good relations with the National Union of Teachers (NUT).Reciprocal membership agreements exist with NUT whereby there is no competitiverecruitment and members “crossing the borders” are advised to join and enjoy automaticmembership for a short period. EIS also has good relations with the Association ofTeachers and Lecturers (ATL), a fellow TUC and EI affiliate.Regular meetings take place with NUT, UCU and ATL and there is close co-operation at TUCand EI level, where appropriate.109September 2012