Motions for Annual FE Sector Conference 2005

Conference resolves to continue NATFHE's campaign for parity of pay with schoolteachers.

Amendment 1

Add 'at least' between 'for' and 'parity'.

Add at end:

'Conference, yet again; demands NATFHE negotiates a 'real' national pay deal, directly with our de facto employer (DfES), which is implemented in all colleges.

Amendment 2

Delete full stop and add at end: 'as a first step towards a decent professional wage.'

Amendment 3

Add at end: 'and instructs the FEC to organise national strike action in support of the implementation of any national agreement to take place by October 2005 at the latest. In the event that no new agreement exists by September national strike action should be organised in support of our claim.'

Amendment 4

Add at end: 'In particular it aims to target by naming and shaming and industrial action where appropriate those colleges not committed to the 2004/2005 pay deal commencing with a campaign at Southampton City College.'

This Conference notes that despite the tremendous sacrifice made by our members in taking industrial action to improve pay and conditions, we have failed to:

a) Convince the government to fund salary increases as they do with teachers

b) Secure full implementation in all colleges of national agreements with the AoC which achieve parity with school colleagues despite promises from the government

Conference now demands that a national campaign be waged to boycott the developing 14-19 programme in FE until the above are achieved. Our campaign slogan should be "Equal Pay for Equal Work".

FE Sector Conference calls on the FEC to:
* Bring to an end the negotiating structures currently in place with the AoC and NATFHE; and
* Set up talks with DfES to constitute a body that has the authority to negotiate on behalf of colleges on pay and conditions; and implement all agreements on the behalf of colleges.

Amendment 1

Insert at start:

'Conference notes:
* that National Agreements continue to fail to deliver to all Lecturers in England.
* the increasing tendency for a significant minority of College Principals to bully and intimidate Lecturers in local Branches into accepting worse pay and conditions than those set out in National Agreements.'

Insert after FE Sector Conference: 'therefore'

Conference fully supports Wales Region's opposition to Performance Related Pay and its policy to initiate a programme of strike action, rapidly escalating to all out action, if the employers try to introduce PRP in the current pay negotiations.

Conference instructs the NEC to authorise the payment of sustentation at the rate of £50 per day for the duration of any strike action that becomes necessary.

Sector Conference calls on the FEC to reposition the issue of the funding gap between school sixth forms and Colleges to the top of their campaigning agenda.

It is clear that funding for the next three years is going to widen a gap already estimated to be in the region of 10%. We need to ensure that Government not only considers base funding, but also other differences e.g. standards funding, pension contributions, capital projects and VAT which further exacerbate the funding divide.

In particular, the FEC should address the effect on pay and the implementation of the 2004 pay deal.

In the light of the recent trend of mergers between Further Education and Sixth Form colleges and the encouragement of schools to develop sixth forms, we urge Sector Conference to work closely with other education unions to fight, in the first instance, for parity of funding and parity with schoolteachers in terms of salary, conditions of service and professional status.

Sector Conference requests the General Secretary of NATFHE to inform the LSC, TUC and Government ministers regarding the situation in those FE institutions which have not come to an agreement over the 2004-2005 national pay agreement. Further and more specifically, it requests that the General Secretary contact the above regarding those colleges that are implementing their own derogatory, mean and unprincipled pay agreements as at Southampton City College outside of the national pay agreement.

Conference condemns college Principals who prioritise spending on buildings at the expense of staff pay. NATFHE continues its call for centrally provided ring-fenced funding for salaries.

Sector Conference notes the failure of the CRE to take action to enforce the Race Relations Amendment Act, (RRAA), in Leicester when the Education Department failed to run a proper impact assessment prior to a root and branch review of the lifelong learning service.

Conference believes that many institutions in FE and Lifelong Learning are not yet properly acting upon the requirements of the RRAA.

Conference believes that the CRE should be more robust in its enforcement of this legislation and calls upon the NEC and General Secretary to pursue vigorously this issue with the CRE and relevant TUC Committees.

Conference is appalled at the way in which Learning and Skills Councils have been effectively reducing the level of support for Adult Education classes, by imposing a standstill budget (in real terms a reduction) which, compounded with the mismanagement of LEA's and colleges has led to the closing of classes, the imposition of supplementary payments for students to finish the year and the threat of greatly increased fees and minimum class sizes for 2005-6.

Conference calls upon the General Secretary, along with the Director of NIACE, to raise these matters with the Secretary of State.

Amendment 1

After 'closing of classes', add 'even when sufficient numbers are enrolled but a high proportion are entitled to concessionary fees.'

Amendment 2

Add after the first paragraph: 'In addition, non-accredited work in ACL, which feeds into accredited work, is also threatened and consequently the widening participation agenda continues to be weakened.'

Amendment 3

Add at end of para 1: 'Conference is concerned that the proposed move to increase employer contribution to employee training, although welcome in itself, will inevitably have a detrimental effect on adult learners and seeks a system of democratic control of StAR processes to give real influence to learners, staff and other stakeholders.'

Amendment 4

Add at end of paragraph 1: 'This has in turn led to the reduction or curtailment of vital provision and to redundancies of adult education staff.'

Amendment 5

Add as paragraph 2

'NATFHE will undertake a national campaign, with College Principals and LEA Managers to:
* Educate the LSC into actually understanding FE and LEA issues.
* Expose the proposals as the crude funding cuts they are really.
* Force DfES to provide sufficient funds to preserve and nourish a thriving FE and LEA sector.'

This Sector Conference proposes a strong national campaign to demand much greater commitment to, and more funds for, those Adult and Community Education courses which are not funded by the Learning and Skills Council. We also urge Government to resolve the present uncertainty and confusion about Prison Education.

Amendment 1

After "Conference" in line 1 insert: 'is alarmed that the commitment to Lifelong Learning is being seriously undermined by a lack of funding for post 19 education even though money has been made available for an unwanted war in Iraq and'.

Conference notes the changes to FE and ACL funding proposed by the LSC. Whilst supporting the level 2 entitlement, NATFHE is extremely concerned that the increase in fees for higher-level programmes is not based on whether employers or individuals will pay higher fees. With the imposition of fee generation targets on providers this may mean cuts for colleges and seriously weaken the quality of provision and the progression routes beyond level 2. Conference deploring the squeeze on all adult learning by the LSC, calls for NATFHE to continue to campaign for proper funding for all post-16 provision.

Amendment 1

Add in last sentence, line 7 after 'LSC': '(including the skewing of funding for Skills for Life to national target qualifications which is leading to the exclusion of marginalised groups who have been benefitting from widening participation policies)'.

Amendment 2

At end, add new paragraph:

'Further, Conference deplores the practice of education being sold in the marketplace and the practice of, for example, employers who go from college to college to drive prices down.'

Conference notes the terrible effects of stress that is wreaking havoc in the Further and Adult Education. The ever-present threat of job insecurity, increased workloads and never-ending bureaucracy is blighting the lives of our members and affecting the quality of education we provide for our students. This cannot be allowed to continue.

As part of NATFHE's generalised resistance to increased work intensification and exploitation in colleges, Conference resolves to:

* Launch a campaign to restrict of all lecturers' teaching hours to a maximum of 20 per week.

* Ensure links are made with college H&S representatives in considering these issues.

Amendment 1

Add at end: 'and for appropriate work-loading agreements to be negotiated'.

Sector Conference recognises the importance of campaigning around the issue of increasing workloads and its relationship to work related stress.

It instructs the FEC to undertake a high profile campaign, on these matters, as a way of increasing grassroots awareness of the employers' negligence and exploitation.

Conference instructs the FEC to actively support branches should any employer seek to impose changes, which threaten existing workload agreements.

Further conference calls on the FEC and the NATFHE leadership to instigate a campaign to ensure college managements are adhering to legal requirements when assessing workloads and work related stress risks to our members.

Conference notes discussions on a licence to practice. NATFHE is not opposed to such a licence - it could help end the practice in some colleges of using untrained/unqualified and part-time/agency staff.

Conference:

1) Supports a fully qualified workforce but opposes mechanisms for implementation that set up unnecessary barriers for qualified and experienced teachers.

2) Has concerns about how a licence would be awarded, maintained and removed from individual teachers.

3) Calls on the NEC to continue:
* Discussing with the DfES, the nature of the licence
* Lobbying for a qualifications structure for lecturers that recognises the diverse nature of FE.

In order to protect members' jobs in landbased education, Conference:

Condemns the increasing practice of using instructor demonstrators to replace lecturers

Views this as an attack on quality and professionalism

Calls on national negotiators to:
1. Clarify the differences between instructors and lecturers
2. Draw up agreed job descriptions.

Amendment 1

Delete third bullet point.

Substitute new bullet point: 'Demands that all staff whose responsibilities include curriculum delivery and student learning, whatever title management puts on them, be paid on lecturers' pay scales.'

Conference condemns the unacceptable terms/conditions which many part-time hourly paid Lecturers are forced to accept and considers such conditions in breach of the "Part Time Workers Regulations 2000". Conference calls on NATFHE to include as one of its key objectives in future wage claims a commitment to bring all such lecturers' conditions up to the level and compatible with those of full-time colleagues.

In particular:
* Full progression through the national pay spine
* Creation of a nationally agreed formula to convert full-time salary scales into equivalent part-time hourly rates
* Minimum fixed term contract period of one year

Amendment 1

In second sentence, after lecturers, insert: 'pay and'.

Delete bullet point 2.

Add at end: 'It further calls for a campaign to eliminate hourly paid part time employment and substitute proportional contracts for all part time work.'

Amendment 2

Delete second bullet point & replace by: 'All staff who support, facilitate or manage learning, including part-timers, should be paid on the Lecturers' Scale or on a nationally agreed pro rata equivalent.'

FE Sector Conference notes the increasing casualisation of the sector, through the extended use of part-time lecturers, fixed-term contracts and agency workers.

Conference resolves to ensure that Branches have the resources, including training, to:
* Appoint a specialist Branch Representative for such lecturers
* Organise and recruit all part-time, fixed-term and agency staff
* Negotiate terms and conditions for all workers and employees which are directly linked to full-time permanent lecturers' contracts
* Remind employers of their obligations under the Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment Regulations.

Conference deplores the iniquitous 1992 F&HE Act which actively encourages FE colleges to compete with each other to worsen the terms and conditions of service of lecturing staff thus ensuring the continuing deprofessionalisation of the sector. It calls upon the NEC:

* To abandon the chimera of 'negotiating' non-binding national agreements;

* To mount a national campaign to include strike action to overturn the 1992 Act and restore meaningful collective bargaining.

Conference is alarmed at the way the current inspection system discriminates against General FE colleges. It instructs its officers to mount a campaign to:

* Raise awareness of the difficulties of providing education and training that is inclusive and widens participation;

* Achieve substantial changes to the inspection system so that this discrimination no longer occurs.

Conference notes that colleagues teaching on higher education programmes in FE colleges often have more teaching hours than their HEI counterparts. This puts pressure on standards of degrees delivered in FE colleges.

Conference calls on NEC to undertake a study of this and to make recommendations for remission for FE staff.

Amendment 1

Add new paragraph at end: 'In the light of the recent submission made by HE establishments regarding the fees being charged for courses in 2006, it further calls on the NEC to investigate and report on the fees being charged by FE establishments providing HE.'

Conference notes the LSC take over of the prison education contracting and funding, and that the creation of the National Offender Management Service will mean working with other partners and being involved in new areas of work. Conference believes that the new round of tendering will once again means job insecurity. It calls on NATFHE to campaign to:

* Ensure no job losses, no detriment and TUPE protection applies

* Full consultation with all LSC, OLSU in future developments i.e. rolling out prototypes

* Make parity of contracts and pay and conditions where applicable a priority.

Amendment 1

Add at end of first bullet point: 'in the event that TUPE is not applied, NATFHE will undertake full legal action to ensure that it does.'

Western Region calls upon the Sector Conference to investigate in full whether a merger with the AUT is in the interests of FE sector members.

Late motions

The four motions listed below were received after the formal date for receipt of motions. As a result Steering Committee is advising the Chair of Sector Conference that the motions from South West, and London are not in order since there were no technical/administrative errors as per SO 3.1.8.

LSC FUNDING

NATFHE is determined to fight the LSC's new funding regime for 2005/6 which threatens to:
* punish Colleges for the success achieved between 2002 and 2005.
* devastate FE provision throughout England both in quality and quantity.
* destroy the livelihoods of thousands of Lecturers.

NATFHE will undertake a national campaign, with College Principals, to:
* educate the LSC into actually understanding FE issues.
* expose the proposals as the crude funding cuts they really are.
* to force the DfES to provide sufficient funds to preserve and nourish a thriving FE sector.

PAY AND CONDITIONS

1. Conference notes, yet again, that:
a) There is no real national pay deal
b) PRP still forms part of many local agreements
c) Parity with teachers has not be achieved
d) Pay banding remains in many Colleges

2. Conference demands, yet again, that NATFHE negotiates a 'real' national pay deal, directly with our de facto employer (the DfES), which is implemented in all colleges.

3. Sector Conference therefore instructs the NEC, yet again, to mount a campaign to achieve a nationally binding agreement on all employers and at least pay parity with teachers.

HONOURING NATIONAL DEALS

Conference deplores the continuing tendency for College Principals to bully and intimidate Lecturers in local Branches into accepting worse pay and conditions than those set out in National Agreements. Conference therefore instructs:

* National and Regional Offices and FEC to divert the maximum possible resources to assisting and training Branch Officers.

* National Negotiators to insist to the AoC, in advance, that negotiations will only be conducted on the strict understanding that all Colleges will honour National deals.

* NATFHE to lobby Government and media and expose the disgraceful behaviour of many College Principals.

Amendment 1

Delete second bullet point.

PAY

Conference reaffirms that all staff who support, facilitate or manage learning, including part-timers, should be paid on the Lecturers' scale or pro-rata on that scale.

Amendment 1

Add after comma following 'part-timers' and before 'should': 'instructors/demonstrators/trainers'