51福利

51福利 consultative ballot on UCEA final offer 2020/21

On Monday members working in higher education (HE)  will receive an email inviting you to vote on whether you wish to accept or reject the employers' 'final offer' on our 2020-21 pay and conditions claim. Please look out for an email from 'takepart@cesvotes.com' which will have the subject line '51福利 consultative ballot on UCEA final offer 2020/21' and will include a link for you to cast your vote online. The union's HE negotiators recommend that members reject the offer. The consultation which is being run by Civica (formerly Electoral Reform Society (ERS)) and will close at 12 noon on Tuesday 23 February 2021.

Please remember to fill in the online HE industrial action survey which you will also have received by email from Civica ('from' address is 'noreply@qemailserver.com'). This closes Wednesday 17 February and is your opportunity to let those who make decisions about 51福利 industrial action know your views. 

Higher education branch briefings February 2021

In line with the decisions made at the HE sector conference in December, registration is now open for three HE branch briefings, which will take place on 12, 15 and 18 February. In anticipation that the sessions will be popular, each branch can register up to two representatives for one of the briefings. In advance of the briefings your representatives asked find out your branches views on five set questions that will inform both the discussions at the briefings and the feedback given to the HEC who will decide the next steps when it meets on 26 February.

Up to two representatives from your branch can register for one of the briefings.  if you are interested in being a delegate:

Further education: pay gap with school teachers widens

More teachers than ever are leaving the college sector within two years as  51福利's head of further education Andrew Harden said it was "no surprise to see undervalued teachers continuing to leave the profession. In real terms further education teachers have seen their pay cut by 30 per cent over the past decade. Last year the government increased the sector's funding by 拢400m, yet further education colleges refused to use it to pay staff more."

Brighton strike to defend IT jobs

Members at University of Brighton are taking strike action next week 8-12 February over plans to make IT staff compulsorily redundant.  which will take place at 12 noon on Monday 8 February and tweeting support to #SaveBrightonITstaff.

Prison education safety campaign

This week Coventry MP Zarah Sultana supported our campaign for safety for prison education staff by raising the issue of unnecessary on site working during the pandemic  Meanwhile 51福利 has written to the Ministry of Justice to raise ongoing concerns about the treatment of prison education staff working for Novus, England and Wales' biggest prison education provider.

University student support announcement

 as a 'sticking plaster'. Jo Grady said: "The government needs to go further and provide proper funding to avoid irreparable long-term damage to the sector's reputation." 

University of Liverpool threat to jobs and Covid research

University of Liverpool 51福利 branch is consulting members over potential industrial action to stop plans to sack 47 staff from health and life sciences.The cuts are impacting a faculty that is part of  a city-wide group whose aim is to decrease the burden of the pandemic locally, nationally and globally. 51福利 Liverpool branch president Anthony O'Hanlon said: 'The University of Liverpool is attempting to utilise 'rank and yank' practices to get rid of its perceived low performers. This brutal assault on jobs is more akin to the ruthless managerialism you would expect to see at a big corporate firm. It is not being proposed out of financial necessity.'

Stop job cuts at University of Leeds: sign the petition

 The university refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies, reports an operating surplus of 拢38 million and has failed to provide any financial rationale for the cuts.

Fight for fair pensions 

51福利 has called on employers in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) to join us in demanding a change of approach to the ongoing 2020 valuation of the pension scheme. The union welcomed Oxford and Cambridge universities' joint letter to USS chief executive Bill Galvin raising concerns over the scheme's valuation. Jo Grady said 'We have no confidence in the approach USS has taken in valuing university staff pension pots and Oxford and Cambridge universities are right to join with their respective 51福利 branches in raising the alarm.'  

Defending jobs at University of Central Lancashire

The 51福利 branch at the University of Central Lancashire is resisting compulsory redundancies, has lodged a dispute and an industrial action ballot opens next week ballot. Please send messages of support to branch chair Michael McKrell.

TUC women's conference 3-5 March 2021

This year's TUC women's conference 3-5 March 2021 will be an online event and, for the first time, individual women trade union members can participate by registering directly with the TUC. The places are free. Anyone wishing to attend must sign up by 17 February.