Fancy a Cruise Down the Channel?

A professional and honest approach to human relations can bring benefits to an employer, and a good HR  manager can certainly make it easier for a trade union to reach a negotiated outcome. But in our experience some  employers have scant regard for HR, and others simply appoint HR  mangers whose sole remit seems to be to say “No”. Then there are those from the anti-union stable who seek to divide and rule, and those who remain remote in their ivory towers. Not surprising then that this poor approach to HR is more aptly known as Human Remains.

Sadly, HR big cheeses have not helped improve their image this week. According to Personnel Today,  a group of them are holding a conference on a luxury cruise liner somewhere in the English Channel. This gives a whole new slant to the phrase “out of touch”.

FE Unions Reject Pay Offer

The six Further Education unions representing 250,000 members in England have today (May 1) rejected the employers (Association of Colleges) pay offer of 2.5%. The six trade unions - ACM, ATL, GMB, UCU, UNISON, UNITE - submitted a catch-up pay claim for 6% or £1,500, whichever is the greater. This would establish a minimum wage level of £7.38 for workers in FE.

Joint Trade Union side Secretary and UNISON National Officer, Chris Fabby, said: “We reject this offer outright. 2.5% is just not enough. This year, our members have been struggling to cope with huge hikes in the cost of essentials like fuel, food and housing.

“The employers must get back around the negotiating table with a more realistic offer. We need a fairer deal for the low paid who can earn as little as £12,738 per year.

“Last year workers in FE got a below inflation pay deal. If this happens again, we run the risk of prompting a recruitment and retention crisis.”

The offer covers all FE staff including lecturers, managers, learning support staff, librarians, IT specialists, technicians, professional staff, administrative and business support staff, cleaners, canteen staff and estate management staff.

Joint Trade Union Side Secretary and UCU Head of Further Education, Barry Lovejoy, said: “A pay increase of 2.5% just won’t make up for years of below-inflation awards or remedy the 6% FE-school teacher pay gap. And it doesn’t address the widespread dissatisfaction with poor pay in the face of increasing workload pressures demonstrated by the independent survey carried out recently for UCU.

“The employers need to go back to the drawing board and come up with an offer that will enable FE to avert a potential staffing crisis that could well de-rail the government’s skills strategy.”

UCU To Strike Before Negotiations Begin

College lecturers in England have voted to strike on Thursday 24 April in support of a demand to bring their pay up to that of schoolteachers. Over 27,000 lecturers in more than 250 colleges were balloted by the University and College Union (UCU). On a 38.6% turnout, 65.5% voted to support strike action.

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), who teach in schools, are also striking on Thursday 24 April over a separate pay claim.

In both schools and colleges, many teaching professionals believe their employers are ignoring their professional status and serving business interests at the expense of community needs. NUT, UCU and the National Union of Students recently launched a joint campaign ‘Our schools, our colleges, our communities’ to draw attention to threats to the quality of local, public education from college marketisation, ‘city academies’ and cuts in public services.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of UCU, said: “College lecturers feel undervalued, despite their successes, which the government has recognised.

‘The considerable difference in the average pay of lecturers and teachers doing the same work is grossly unfair.

‘It is more than four years since FE employers agreed to move lecturers to the same length pay scales as school teachers but 47% of colleges still haven’t done that. The treatment of FE staff is a scandal. Pay has been further eroded by below-inflation pay awards.

‘Further education is central to the government’s plans for reskilling the nation but colleges must also serve their communities, not simply be factories for qualifications. Lecturers are delivering. Now college employers must tackle the deep dissatisfaction amongst their staff.’

Responding to today’s announcement by the UCU, Sue Dutton, Association of Colleges (AoC), Acting Chief Executive, said: “Colleges are disappointed that the University and Colleges Union (UCU) has called its members out to strike on 24 April over the 2008/09 pay claim.

‘The action is unprecedented as it is being called before national pay negotiations have even begun. Despite the decision, AoC is still committed to national pay negotiations, which are due to start 1 May.”

None of the other five unions who are party to the national pay claim have held industrial action ballots.

UCU strike ballot before pay talks start

Although pay negotiations have yet to start between the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the six FE unions in England, the UCU today began balloting members on possible industrial action. If the ballot supports industrial action, UCU’s FE members in England will be asked to begin this with a strike on Thursday 24 April, 2008.

The UCU move is unilateral. There has been no consultation with the other five unions, including ACM, who are party to the joint FE pay claim; and the fear now is that employers will refuse to negotiate until the action is lifted.

Meetings with the employers have been scheduled, and any subsequent pay increase would not take effect until August. The claim is for a 6% increase or £1500, whichever is greater.

UCU are seeking to co-ordinate their action with the National Union of Teachers. The NUT are also balloting for strike action on 24 April, in pursuit of their pay claim for school teachers.

Wales Pay Claim

ACM will press for a 6% pay rise for college staff in 2008 or a flat rate of £1500, whichever is greater. The claim, which was agreed last week by ACM’s Wales Committee, is also seeking meaningful negotiations over a national agreement on training and development, and guidelines on work-life balance and working time. It also stresses that there should be no reduction in managers’ differentials.

Peter Pendle, ACM General Secretary said, “The Welsh Assembly Government, quite rightly, is pursuing a significant skills agenda; and it is further education colleges that are driving this forward. However, to succeed colleges need a well motivated and well paid workforce. With inflation currently running at around 4% a serious pay rise is needed.”

ACM will now be seeking the agreement of other staffside unions for a joint pay claim.

NJF England: 2008 FE Pay Claim Submitted

Six trade unions - ACM, ATL, GMB, UCU, UNISON, UNITE - representing 250,000 further education staff, have this week submitted their 2008 pay claim. The catch-up claim, for 6% or £1,500, whichever is the greater, covers FE workers in England including lecturers, learning support staff, cleaners, managers, caterers, librarians, security and lab technicians, and would establish a £7.38 an hour minimum wage.

Last year many FE staff faced a double whammy when they were awarded a below inflation pay deal which some colleges then failed to implement.

Peter Pendle, ACM General Secretary said, “College staff, including managers, continue to earn less than their counterparts in schools. It’s time this pay gap was closed, and it’s also time that pay levels in further education reflected the true cost of living.”

Barry Lovejoy, Joint Trade Union Side Secretary, said, “We want a better deal for FE staff which matches the rise in prices and the contribution members make to our colleges. The recommended award this year was well below inflation and an effective pay cut for staff. This claim seeks to make up the shortfall”

Christine Lewis, Joint Trade Union Side Secretary, said, “College staff are part of a community of public service workers who are entitled to a fair pay deal and they are determined to get one. Further Education is the driver for the Government’s skills agenda which is impossible to deliver if you have a low paid, demoralised workforce.”

The employer’s body, the Association of Colleges (AOC), makes a recommendation to individual FE colleges on pay. In the past there have been problems because a significant number of colleges have chosen not to implement the agreed pay recommendation. Some even failed to offer any annual increase.

Failure To Honour Police Pay Is Big Mistake

On the day that thousands of police officers are planning to march and rally in Westminster over pay, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has today (Wednesday) sent a message of support from the unions to Police Federation Chair, Jan Berry.

The TUC letter says that the Government made ‘a disastrous mistake’ when it decided to ignore the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal recommendation of a 2.5 per cent pay award last year. Other workers in the public sector – including health workers and prison officers – were subject to a similar staging of their pay in 2007

Wishing the Police Federation well on its day of action, Brendan Barber calls for a new approach from the Government over public sector pay, saying that “all public servants deserve proper reward and recognition for the vital jobs they perform….”

The text of the letter appears below:

Dear Jan
I am writing with a message of solidarity and support for the Federation and all of your members in your campaign for pay justice. All public servants deserve proper reward and recognition for the vital jobs they perform and the Government has made a disastrous mistake in refusing to honour, in full, the decisions of the Police Arbitration Tribunal.

The Government is plain wrong in seeking to impose across the public services below inflation pay rises, undermining in the process the integrity of the independent pay determination machinery that has contributed so much to industrial relations stability.
Other public service workers and their unions are, like you, determined to press Government for a new approach. Today your members are showing their resolute determination to win fairness.

All good wishes in your campaign.

Yours sincerely
Brendan Barber, General Secretary TUC

Welsh Colleges To Implement Pay Rise

College employers in Wales are to implement the 2.5% pay award that was accepted by the majority of FE unions including ACM. Staff working in Welsh colleges are likely to receive the increase, which is backdated to August 2007, as early as next month.

Fforwm, who represent Colleges in Wales, made the 2.5% offer in the summer. But despite a majority of unions accepting the proposed deal, UCU opposition prevented a settlement. However, ACM and other unions pressed for a resolution of the matter culminating in this week’s decision.

Peter Pendle, ACM General Secretary said, “I’m glad we finally managed to achieve a cost of living rise. “

Employers To Recommend Pay Rise

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has confirmed it will now recommend that its members in England implement the pay offer that has been accepted by all but one of the six unions on the National Joint Forum.

The pay rise is for 2% from August 2007 and 1% from February 2008. It was accepted by ACM, ATL, Unison, Unite (TGWU) and GMB, but rejected by the UCU. The UCU decided to reject the employers offer at a special conference, despite the results of its branch consultation that showed a majority in favour of accepting. UCU are now planning a strike ballot.

A growing number of FE colleges had already implemented the pay award through local agreements, but the AoC decision opens the door for discussions on a number of other important elements of the joint trade union claim, including action on dealing with excessive working time.

Pay Deal Moves A Step Closer

Settlement of this year’s pay claims in both England and Wales has moved a step nearer. Until now, the AoC in England and Fforwm in Wales had been insisting that all unions must accept the offer before the pay rise can be recommended to colleges.

To take matters forward those unions who had accepted the employers’ offer have agreed to press for its implementation. The move has the backing of ACM, ATL, Unison and all other trade unions with the exception of the UCU. Indeed, despite a majority of their branches agreeing to the offer in England, UCU decided to go ahead with a strike ballot anyway. A separate strike ballot is also planned for Wales.

If the pay increase of 2% from August 2007 and a further 1% from February 2008 is recommended to colleges in England, it opens the door for national negotiations on a number of important non-pay items such as working time and training. Without a settlement then all these items would be lost.

In Wales the offer is 2.5% from August 2007.

Earlier Start to Redundancy Consultation?

Colleges are being advised to begin redundancy consultation earlier as a result of recent case law, reported previously on this blog.

The Association of Colleges has issued a briefing to its members saying that the duty to consult on collective redundancies starts when they are first being contemplated. They say that this means consulting the moment redundancies become a possibility, rather than when they are actually proposed.

Eversheds, the law firm that represents many FE colleges, said in their own briefing (HR e-briefing 291) that, “This case represents a significant step towards European consultation practices by involving worker representatives in the reasons for redundancies and closures, as opposed to presenting such situations as a fait accompli.”

ACM has argued consistently that most colleges only pay lip service to consultation. But with the employers organisation and their solicitors both now saying consultation must begin earlier, then perhaps things will at last improve. One key test of the new advice will be whether consultation starts before the governors are given the final proposals, something that until now would be unheard of. The legal ruling and all the advice suggests that it should, so we expect some interesting arguments ahead.

FE Poor Relation on Salaries

More evidence that further education is the poor relation has emerged from figures published by the Office of National Statistics.

Looking at average salaries in the year to April 2007, the ONS says that FE teachers earn £2000 less than school teachers and a massive £10,000 less than university teachers. A more detailed report can be found on the BBC News website.