HE Pay Dispute
- Frequently Asked Questions
Since the third strike day on 6
February we have received a number of questions which this bulletin seeks to
address.
How are negotiations with
the employers going?
Unfortunately
the employers have not moved from their 1% offer and that they will not
negotiate further on the 2013/14 pay talks. The four HE trade unions: UNISON,
UCU, Unite and EIS remain in dispute with the employers and are looking at next
steps.
The joint trade unions (including
the GMB who are not in dispute) have met to prepare for next year’s pay talks
for 2014/15 and are in the process of agreeing a pay claim.
Is there likely to be
another strike? Who decides if we take action?
UNISON’s
HE pay policy is determined by our annual Higher Education Conference. This will
next take place on 27 February 2014. Between HE conferences decisions on implementing
pay policy are determined by UNISON’s Higher Education Service Group Executive
(HESGE). The HESGE is comprised of lay members directly elected by members in
regions; supplemented by HE members who are elected to UNISON’s National
Executive Council. HESGE members report
back and consult with branches at regional HESGE meetings. The HESGE will next
meet on the 26th February. Decisions on future strike action will be
taken at conference and the HESGE.
Of the other unions involved in
the dispute, the main academic union UCU has announced a marking ban to start
from 28 April 2014, but has no plans for further strikes
When do we have to re-ballot members to continue taking strike action?
The law on unions taking
industrial action is very restrictive. So UNISON constructed the original
ballot question to make sure there would be no requirement to re-ballot members
on taking strike action whilst the current dispute continued. How long the dispute
and strikes continue will be decided by the HESGE or HE conference.
Why have I received a pay
increase?
The national HE employers
association UCEA advised its University members to pay the 1% pay offer to
staff in January 2014 (some employers had already done this at the end of
2013). This means that the 1% pay offer from the employers for 2013 /14 was IMPOSED by the employers.
Has the 3 day strike made a
difference?
Yes. Whilst the employers have taken a hard line
and not moved on the 1%, we have made some small gains. Since the start of the
dispute a number of employers (some of whom had previously refused) have agreed
to introduce the Living Wage. Some universities have made additional one off
payments to staff, showing they do have the money available. Our exposure of the hypocrisy of Vice-Chancellors/Principals
holding down pay awards for low paid staff whilst taking big rises themselves
has been highlighted in the media and recognised by the Government. The recent grant letter from the government
to the English HE funding council urged ‘leaders in the sector (to) exercise
much greater restraint...’
Have we considered alternative
forms of industrial action?
In
addition to the joint one day strikes UCU has been taking 2-hour strikes, working
-to-contract and is now proposing a marking boycott. This is called ‘action
short of strike action’ (ASOS), which is also subject to detailed legislative
restrictions. UCU included ASOS as an
option on their original ballot and this was voted for by their members.
UNISON’s
HESGE did not include ASOS as an option on our ballot as they were not
convinced it would be effective and had concerns that the employers would take
a firm response. This has been proved correct as over one third of universities
have deducted a full day’s pay from UCU members that took part in the rolling 2
hour strikes. The employer’s cite previous case law that ‘partial performance
of duties’ means that those members taking ASOS have broken their contracts for
that day.
In
order for UNISON to take action short of strike action a further ballot of
members would be required.
If branches/members have any further queries
then they should contact their Regional Organising staff
