COLLEGES NEWS JANUARY 2006
National Talks to Open on PayAt its meeting last Friday, the FE committee of the National Executive (FEC) welcomed the offer of further national talks on pay from the Association of Colleges. This was made in response to approaches from NATFHE after the national strike in November. An exploratory meeting is to be held with trade union officials on 8 February followed by a full meeting of the National Negotiating Forum (NJF).The discussions will centre on attempting to resolve the current dispute on the 2005/6 pay claim and to make early progress on a pay award for 2006/7. The dispute with colleges rests on our rejection of the 2.8% pay offer and the continuing non implementation of the new pay scales agreed for 2004/5. The FEC decided last Friday to submit a claim alongside other trade unions, for a further 7% increase for 2006/7 plus other elements of last years claim not met by the employers this year (see box opposite). No further days of national strike action are being organised whilst these talks proceed, but in the event of a breakdown a special FEC will review the situation to consider further action. LATEST PROGRESS ON NEW PAY SCALESDetermined negotiating, campaigning and action by branches with the support of the regional offices has meant that NATFHE continues to make progress on securing agreements with colleges on the implementation of the new 8 point scale for lecturers. Agreements have now been secured in 41% of colleges in England covering over 48% of the membership. NATFHE will be pushing the AoC in the national talks for more positive action to promote the implementation of these scales which were nationally recommended for August 2004. Meanwhile the campaign for implementation continues. We are now at a crucial stage and are within striking distance of achieving agreements in 50% of colleges. A number of branches have been identified as particular targets for the next few months and will be contacted by regional officials very shortly. 2006/7 PAY CLAIMNATFHE will seek to submit joint trade union claim for:
NIACE COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY INTO ESOLNIACE has established a committee of enquiry into ESOL and wants your views. You can respond via the consultation questionnaire on the website www.niace.org.uk/projects/esol-enquiry/Default.htm. The questionnaire can be found under Consultation Documents. The website also has details about the background to the enquiry, the remit, the committee members, and the research materials. A scoping paper sets out the issues for ESOL drawn from the literature search which is under way and which is intended to be an important output of the enquiry. The enquiry will focus on five areas:
NIACE wants to take evidence in relation to these issues to inform its thinking and help them formulate recommendations to policy makers, providers, inspectorates, managers and teachers and would like to hear from individuals connected to educational work with adult speakers of other languages in ESOL and related areas. It also wants to hear the views of people with language learning needs - individuals not accessing learning provision, as well as current learners. They are collecting evidence until the end of May 2006. INCLUSIVE TEACHINGNATFHE has been contacted by a HEFCE funded project called Making your Teaching Inclusive which may be of interest and use to FE lecturers. More information should be available on www.open.ac.uk/cater. Troops home from Iraq - don't attack IranNational demonstration PROTEST ON 100 CAMPUSES?NATFHE branches are also asked to consider organising appropriate campus action if and when the 100th UK service person dies in Iraq. Sadly, 97 have already died. The suggested action, a reading of the ‘Names of the Dead’ - of 100 UK and 100 Iraqi victims - comes from Military Families Against the War - bereaved families of some of those UK dead, who oppose the war. Actions are planned in 100 towns. Some NATFHE branches are already planning this. Details of how to conduct this, plus names, are available on www.stopwar.org.uk (see ‘Not one more death’ on home page) Draft materials for campus actions are available from Trevor Phillips, below. Branches are also encouraged to affiliate or make a donation to the Coalition at: www.stopthewar.co.uk. To join the NATFHE e-mail network of Stop The War Coalition supporters, email [email protected] putting ‘join stop war network’ in the subject box. Further information from [email protected] and the website www.stopwar.org.uk. Two New Agreements with AoCJanuary’s FEC ratified two new joint agreements with the AoC covering equality issues. The Joint Agreement on Guidance on Equal Pay in Further Education promotes a holistic approach to achieving Equal Pay and fulfilling colleges’ legal requirements. All aspects of employment that affect pay and benefits should be examined to make sure that they do not lead to discriminatory pay outcomes, including:
The agreement commends use of an equal pay review inline with the Equal Opportunities Commission code and annual monitoring of the impact of colleges’ employment practices on equal pay. The Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Transgender Equality in Employment will help guide colleges and branches on how to deal appropriately with issues relating to trans members. Copies of these agreements will shortly be circulated and and are posted on the FE Pay and Conditions page on this website. TUC Website for Union RepsAll Branch Officers and NATFHE activists can register at the TUC’s website for Union Reps www.unionreps.org.uk. The site has bulletin boards by area of interest where union reps can discuss topics with counterparts from other unions and exchange tips for dealing with common issues. With links to many useful resources and news from the TUC and unions this a must see site for any union rep. Organising for SuccessORGANISING BRINGS A NEW LEASE OF LIFE AT WORKING MEN'S COLLEGE The NATFHE branch at the Working Men’s College in Camden had it's strongest picket line in decades for November’s national strike. The branch now has an active union committee for the first time in years and its membership has been steadily growing. All this follows an active organising campaign at the college with branch development organiser, Mark Sandell, working with members to bring their branch out of hibernation. Regular branch meetings, campaigns on local issues using petitions and the new reps attending all of the stage one NATFHE training has all helped to bring the branch bursting back to life. On the national strike day the branch pulled out all the stops; with a lively picket line. The message was then drummed home within days of the strike by NATFHE reps leafleting the board of governors’ meeting. The branch is now running a campaign to organise more of their hourly paid staff. DONCASTER ORGANISES TO SAVE JOBS!Doncaster branch was faced with over 90 potential redundancies and threatened pay cuts for a whole section of the membership last summer. Membership density was low despite the hard work of key branch officers. MANCHESTER CITY BLUES!City College Manchester NATFHE are stepping up their ‘Second Class Staff/ Second Class Stamp’ campaign to gain better terms & conditions for hourly paid staff. At City College, like many other institutions, more and more work has been taken out of that hourly rate: holiday pay, meetings, marking, preparation, departmental duties. Hourly-paid lecturers also face unemployment without any redundancy payments at the end of the academic year, not knowing if they will be reengaged in September. The increase in numbers of hourly paid contracts and decrease in conditions mean members at City College have had enough. Hourly paid staff have begun the campaign by wearing blue second class stamps on their ID badge holder to indicate how they feel like second class citizens in the college. The branch will be taking the campaign forward in the next few months along with north west branch development organiser Diana Clarke. Working against racism - the role of trade unionsConference on: TUC Congress House Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS For details please contact Wilf Sullivan at the TUC, on [email protected]. After Foster: Learning & Skills in LondonOrganising & campaigning for London learning One day conference NATFHE Head Office, London For further information and an application form contact [email protected]. Unite Against Facism conferenceSaturday 18 February 2006, 9.30am-5pm On 1 February Unite Against Fascism will hold their second annual conference. Crucially it will be set during the run up to this year’s local elections in May. The BNP currently have 21 local councillors and will be using the typically low voter turn out to secure several more council seats in this election. No one needs reminding that where the BNP has council seats, incidents of racism and homophobia rise. Unite Against Fascism is organising this conference to discuss why the BNP’s vote has grown, effective strategies in stopping the BNP, and to bring together the different sections of the anti-fascist movement - including NATFHE, other trade unions, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other faith, black, Asian, lesbian and gay communities and disabled people’s organisations. Speakers include: Ken Livingstone - Unite Against Fascism Chair, Gurinder Chada - Director of ' Bend it like Beckham' and ' Bride & Prejudice ', an assortment of union General Secretaries and many more besides. To register contact Unite Against Fascism, PO Box 36871, London WC1X 9XT. Go to www.uaf.org.uk for more details. NATFHE is affiliated to the Stop the War Coalition and, in line with national policy, calls for an end to the occupation of Iraq. The Stop the War Coalition is organising a national demonstration on March 18 to demand a troop withdrawal from Iraq and for no attack to be made on Iran. NATFHE branches are asked to support this demonstration by mobilising as many members as possible to take part. The branch voted to take strike action in the event of compulsory redundancies. Action short of a strike was instituted. Supported by the regional office in weekly consultations, branch officers took on the task of communicating every development and NATFHE's goals to each member by e-mail, newsletter and several letters to members home addresses. All members were urged to recruit another. Messages of support began to come in from branches throughout the Region and nationally. Regional officers and the national president spoke at Doncaster branch meetings. Local MPs were lobbied and local media contacts were developed and used. On two occasions planned strikes were postponed to allow management to consider alternatives. Members showed their confidence and resolve by the solid support for the national pay strike and demonstration in November. In less than two months in autumn, membership grew by over 50 and by early December the strengthened branch was able to end its dispute because proposals for imposed pay cuts were withdrawn and compulsory redundancies avoided. The branch committee has now set its organising goals for this year to undertake further recruitment activities and campaign around pay. |
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