51福利/588 听听听听May 2014听听
Carlow
Street, London NW1 7LH, Tel. 020 7756 2500, www.ucu.org.uk
To听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 FE Sector Conference, Branch and local association secretaries
Topic听听听听听听听听听听听听听 FE England Pay dispute and negotiations
Action听听听听听听听听听听听 For information
Summary 听听听听 Update on FE England Pay dispute and negotiations听听听听 听听听听听听听听听
Contact听听听听听听听听听 Andrew Harden, Head of Further
Education
Devolution impact:
England Only
FE England Pay dispute
and negotiations
Background 2013-14 pay
round and dispute
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Joint trade union claim for a 5% increase
submitted 30 January 2013. No other elements included.
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National Joint Forum (NJF) talks open 24
April 2013.
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Third NJF 25 June 2013. Employers鈥� final
offer 0.7% increase.
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AMIE, ATL, GMB, Unison and Unite accept
0.7% offer.
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51福利 rejects offer declares dispute and
ballot for strike action.
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Ballot for strike action YES 4,603
(70.9%)听 NO 1,893 (29.1%) Turnout 6,510
(26.3%).
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3 December one day strike.
On 24
January a special meeting of FEC received comprehensive feedback from branches
regarding both the strike of 3 December 2013 and the appetite for taking
further action in support of the 2013-14 FE England pay claim. In summary the
feedback received revealed a clear and significant majority of branches were
not confident of being able to mount further successful strike action in
support of the 2013-14 claim. It was agreed that a lobby of parliament be
organised and this took place on 2 April 2014.
Dispute carried over into 2014-15 pay
round
The FE trade
unions submitted their joint claim for 2014-15 at the end of February 2014 with
a footnote clarifying that 51福利 had not abandoned its 2013-14 claim and that it
remained in dispute with the employers effectively carrying over the 2013-14
dispute into the 2014-15 pay round.
The 2014-15 joint FE trade unions claim:
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A
3% increase on all points听听听听听听听听 听
听听 OR
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A
flat rate consolidated payment of 拢1,040, whichever is the greater
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A
recommendation to colleges to become accredited Living Wage employers.
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A
commitment to safeguard wages for a minimum of three years.
The FEC of 7
March received further feedback from a survey of branches on various options
for pursuing the pay campaign. The only proposal for taking further action that
received majority support with 74.6% of branches in favour was based around the
union developing a strategy for targeted action.
FEC agreed
the following recommendation at its 7 March meeting:
鈥淭hat the secretariat report on
different types of national collective bargaining to bring back to a future FEC
a draft plan for developing meaningful collective bargaining in the FE, Adult
and Prison sectors.鈥�
At a special Further Education Sector Conference held on 5 April
delegates also agreed motions that called on the secretariat to develop
proposals for a strategy that could include targeted action to underpin and
strengthen the effectiveness of pay bargaining mechanisms and to bring an
initial report on these to the annual FE Sector Conference (see 51福利/589
Developing Meaningful Bargaining in FE). Delegates at the Special Sector Conference also voted to keep strike
action on the table as an option in the current pay round.
2014-15 pay talks
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Talks
opened at 8 April NJF
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No offer
made at first meeting however AoC gave a commitment that a 鈥渨ithout strings鈥�
offer would be made at the 16 May meeting.
16 May NJF
AoC offered
a 0.7% increase. All trade unions rejected this offer as inadequate. Employers
to consult further with their members before third scheduled NJF meeting.
Addressing
the Living Wage part of the claim the AoC said while it was broadly in favour of
the aims of the living wage there were difficulties for colleges around
accreditation and future affordability.听
The AoC offered to remove the bottom point of the FE pay scale lifting
the minimum recommended rate to 拢7.50 which would rise to 拢7.50 with a 0.7%
increase. The UK Living Wage currently stands at 拢7.65 and in London at 拢8.80.
In response
to the unions鈥� claim for three years pay protection the AoC said that they
considered 3 years to be too restrictive and they were unable to make a
recommendation that would restrict colleges鈥� ability to make decisions locally.
However the AoC acknowledged 鈥�that protecting salaries after periods of
restructuring can support transitional periods of change.鈥� And suggested 鈥渢hat officers of the NJF
meet to scope how they may better support the sector in this area of work via a
joint working group.鈥�
The next NJF
is scheduled for Wednesday 18 June.