Feedback from Regional Meeting Last Saturday

Regional Executive Committee Meeting

Saturday 4^th February – Leeds Met.

This was a well-attended meeting which consisted of separate committee meetings of both FE and HE committees which then came together for a combined meeting about pensions.

FE Committee

·         Proposals for resolutions at the forthcoming FE sector conference were concerned with the continued casualisation of contracts for staff and agency staff. Also contracts in general which were seen as increasingly target driven business models with little respect for work/life balance. Additionally, proposals by the Government to devalue vocational qualifications were seen as an area of concern.

·         Regarding pay negotiations with the AoC – UCU are considering a request to the AoC  to recommend a pay deal which is commensurate with the amount lecturing staff have lost due to pay freezes and inflation.  This is currently awaiting an FEC vote on 24/02/12.

·         The National report gave a brief update on IFL membership. While this is still not yet finalised, the general secretary (Sally Hunt) is in negotiations about this and the advice is still NOT to pay!

Joint FE/HE committee on Pensions

·         The regional chair began the meeting by saying that there has been a lot of information and disinformation about the NEC vote to propose strike action on a day in March. Two members of the NEC were present at the meeting and explained what had occurred regarding this. They referred to a document known as the 1^st Actuarial – this document analysed the TPS in terms of modelled outcomes and in all of these modelled scenarios (based on extrapolation) it seems that members of the TPS will lose out if the Heads of Agreement (HoA) proposed offer from the Government is accepted.

·         The NEC explained why they had voted for strike action in March, this is because the Government is planning to take the first increases to the TPS contributions in April. This will mean in practical terms that a teacher at the top of the lecturer scale will lose £30.00 per month from April 2012 and this will rise every year to reach £75.00 per month. In addition people are being asked to work for longer (until 68 years old for younger staff) and will receive far less when they retire. In the circumstances, the NEC felt that action had to be taken as there were not really ‘significant’ changes in this offer and that the General Secretary would not budge on her position.

·         The chair went on to  tell us about the ATL decision to sign up to the HoA which was widely reported in the media as being a massive 90% vote in acceptance – was based on a turnout of 5.7% of members.

·         In addition the UNISON decision to sign was a very narrow vote - 7 to accept and 6 to reject. There is scope for them to change this and refuse to support the HoA and it was widely felt that this would be the case.

·         According to the NUT, the NAHT (Head teachers union) have now decided to change their position and to reject the HoA.

·         The BMA (Doctor’s union) and the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) are also likely to strike.

·         There are several private sector unions who are likely to strike in support of public sector workers.

·         It is likely that the strike day will not be the 1^st of March now, but is more likely to be a day in March instead.

·        Finally, the FE Committee was asked to vote on whether they endorsed the NEC’s resolution of Friday 20^th January 2012 and 18 college representatives voted unanimously to endorse the NEC’s decision.