FEC Report Back – 25th September
In May, branch delegates at FESC voted to launch a nationally aggregated ballot over pay, workload and national binding bargaining. This report focuses on how the campaign is progressing with the ballot being launched this term, and the key next steps we need to take now.
Pay, workload and national binding bargaining have been key demands in our sector for several years. The fragmentation of our sector since incorporation has led to a race to the bottom, worsening pay and rising workloads. But it has also weakened our union’s ability to push back to fight for more funding, better pay and manageable workloads for all. Therefore, national binding bargaining is essential in order to improve pay and conditions for all.
That is why national binding bargaining is essential. We need a system that can improve pay and conditions across the sector, rather than leaving members fighting the same battles branch by branch.
National binding bargaining must, of course, be backed by proper funding for the sector, which is why we need to apply pressure on the government. There are now over 1 million young people out of work, training and education. This is scandalous and a huge economic and social problem that Burnham’s government must address.
FE is clearly part of the solution. Moreover, Labour has launched a new skills agenda and is looking to FE to deliver this. We must therefore demand that this vision is properly funded.
Following decisions taken at FESC, the government announced on 1st July a £465 funding increase for Further Education. While this is welcome, it doesn’t go far enough. FE teachers will still not have parity with schoolteachers and the recruitment and retention crisis among FE staff will continue.
And it is important to note that the money is there. Instead, the government is increasing defence spending at a faster rate than spending on education, with defence spending set to continue to rise. We must argue that we need welfare not weapons, and more jobs, not bombs.
The upcoming ballot
We are moving towards a nationally aggregated ballot. This will be the first time in UCU FE that, when members are balloted, we are balloted as one collective. Therefore, the 50% threshold applies across the aggregated membership rather than separately branch by branch.
The vast majority of branches should be in this aggregated ballot, there are only two exceptions.
First, branches that settled their pay negotiations before the 1st July (when government announced increased funding) and which did not include a caveat enabling negotiations to reopen if more funding is announced – cannot be in the ballot.
Second, branches with no reps or functioning branch structure will not be included. UCU Left members argued against this second exception because members in these branches may have been engaged by the idea of a nationally aggregated ballot and could have become more organised as a result.
The limited number of opt-outs is important. In previous ballots, there have been multiple reasons for branches to opt out, creating the impression that we were not acting collectively. It also enabled those in a minority within the union to remove themselves from collective action, weakening our ability to act as one.
Head Office recently sent one email asking branch reps whether they had reached a pay deal. Many branches did not respond – most likely because it was a single email sent in September with only a week to respond. Of those that did respond, many said they did not have a deal.
What is particularly striking is that our Vice-President’s college is one of only six branches that responded to say that they had a pay deal with no caveat to reopen negotiations. As a result, that branch will not be included in the ballot.
In recent years there have been new funding announcements during the summer. As the AoC now tends to make pay recommendations after the STRB announcements, it is always wise to include a caveat in pay agreements allowing negotiations to reopen if additional funding is announced.
Pessimism at the top
There is a pessimism within sections of the union leadership about the possibility of national binding bargaining. We have heard arguments that it is impossible, that it is like arguing for “unicorns”. There is also resistance from some who see national bargaining as undermining their ability to control local issues.
As previously reported, at June’s FEC the UCU FE Secretariat attempted to roll back the decision made by FESC in May, arguing that we were not ready. The bureaucracy and the right took that argument to FESC – and lost. The branch reps have voted and stated we are ready. In June, the left on FEC pushed back and ensured that the democratic decisions made by FESC were upheld.
But attempts to undermine this ballot continue.
First, there was an attempt to argue that branches were not engaged in the dispute because “only” 40 branches had responded to the email about the status of their local pay deals. As already stated, one email, sent in September with a week to respond, tells us very little about branch engagement.
Secondly, the right attempted to argue that national binding bargaining would soon become irrelevant because Burnham’s government has announced plans to devolve 16–19 education.
It is unclear exactly how this will work. The White Paper is due to be released on the day of the Budget. However, it appears that employers and the “labour market” will have greater influence over education, and there is a possibility that this could also lead to regional pay and conditions.
If anything, this makes the campaign for national binding bargaining more urgent. We need to secure national pay and conditions before any devolution of 16–19 education takes place. These announcements should give us greater energy to fight for all our members, rather than an excuse for retreating into pessimism.
Where do we need to go next?
A national campaign raises the profile of our sector and brings greater government focus and pressure on ministers. This campaign must be both industrial and political. It is government that has the power to properly fund our sector, and government needs FE to deliver its skills agenda and help address major economic and social problems.
FESC motions called for a lobby of Parliament. One has now been organised for 11 November, although disappointingly this is after the Budget.
It is nevertheless important that the lobby takes place. At Friday’s FEC, we also put forward a motion calling on UCU to organise an FE and Adult Education Summit in a Parliamentary Committee Room, bringing together more teachers and students to make the case for our sector directly.
The motion also called on UCU to support the eve-of-Budget protests on 27 October, in order to build the political campaign to support the industrial campaign.
Within our regions we need to call local branches to ensure they are aware and, where possible, we should organise buddying of branches to support the GTVO. The ballot should open after half term, but we are still waiting for a final timetable.
All branches need to start campaigning now:
1. Get ready for an e-ballot. This could ballot could be conducted electronically, which means members must have a personal email address registered on MyUCU. So reps need to see this as the start of GTVO – get people onto MyUCU and ensure they have a personal email address and mobile number (for ThruText).
2. Set up branch meetings now to discuss the ballot, build support and involve members in the campaign.
3. Get campaign materials out.Campaign materials need to be sent to branches so that posters can go up and members can see that the campaign is underway.
4. Support the lobby. Ask your employer if they will support the Parliamentary lobby on the 11thNovember and if reps, staff and students can have the day to attend.
The decisions have been made, the ballot is progressing and so we need to be organised.
National binding bargaining is not a distant aspiration, it is a campaign in the making for several years – now we need to start building for the ballot.