Agency Lecturers' Campaign

NATFHE is stepping up its campaign to secure equal employment rights for all lecturers in post-school education and to ensure that colleges and universities have the staffing arrangements that guarantee students a good education.

All those who teach in further and higher education are entitled to decent pay and pensions, good conditions, staff development, and career opportunities.

Some people choose to work part-time, others do it out of necessity. Part-time staff should have, on a proportionate basis, the same rights and treatment as full-time staff.

Lecturers supplied to colleges through agencies like Education Lecturing Services (ELS) are part-time employees, not self-employed. They should get equal pay, sick pay, maternity pay, training, access to the teachers' pensions scheme and other benefits enjoyed by directly employed staff.

Employers should not be allowed to get round laws specifically aimed at protecting workers by changing their employment status.

OUR CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE

Whether you are an agency-employed lecturer yourself, or if you are concerned about employment rights and want to change the present situation, we ask you to join our campaign to help us make progress and win justice for agency lecturers:
We're taking up the issues of equal rights with government ministers, MPs, MEPs, civil servants and the national employers' organisations and working with the Equal Opportunities Commission, Trades Union Congress and other unions.
We're pressing colleges to negotiate agreements giving part-time staff decent pay and conditions, based on the national Agreement on Guidelines for the Employment of Part-Time Employees in Further Education Colleges.
We're urging government to use its powers under S23 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 to confer rights on agency workers.
We're pressing government to give agency workers access to the teachers' pensions scheme. We're urging agency workers to lodge employment tribunal cases pending decisions on access to the teachers' pensions scheme.
We're asking NATFHE branches to ensure now that agency staff are covered by institutions' professional indemnity policies, and have access to all non-contractual benefits enjoyed by directly employed staff.

A way round employment rights

Allonby: an important step forward

Your questions answered

HOLIDAY PAY RIGHTS VICTORY
At the end of June 2001, The European Court of Justice ruled that short-term contract workers are entitled to paid annual leave, in its decision on a case brought by BECTU. NATFHE has written to employment agency ELS asking for assurances that agency workers will receive their entitlements. You can download the European Court press release as a Word document, or see the Court ruling on the ECJ website (search using Case No C-173/99)
European Court press release