AUT Strike Action
Lecturers unions, including the on campus AUT union have called upon Universities to honour the commitment given to government by vice-chancellors that they would boost salaries using the new income from top-up fees. An extra £3.4bn is coming into higher education due to the introduction of top-up fees and other extra money being made available to the sector. They are asking for a third of the extra money from next years top up fees to be put into staff pay: the employers have so far failed to make an acceptable response. Indeed, the last negotiating failed to see any offer from the employers tabled at all.
After the employers' failure to make an acceptable offer in response to the 2006 claim, AUT and NATFHE members voted strongly in support of both strike action and action short of a strike. Both unions have now called for strike action to take place on 7th March, followed immediately by action short of a strike - which includes an assessment boycott from 8th March until further notice.
Universities & Colleges Employers Association have released a statement, saying that 'University and HE college employers remain disappointed by the strategy of AUT and NATFHE' as they are concerned of the disruption the strike and assessment boycott will have on students, and feel that 'little could have been done to deter them from proceedings with their long-term plans to strike and boycott student assessment work.'
Although this may not involve me directly, I do work occasionally as a learning mentor, and as a humble academic myself, I face the unpalatable prospect of having to go along with the industrial action as part of a national pay dispute between the higher education teaching unions and the lecturers employers, beginning with a one-day strike on 7 March. I am in no way complaining here, as I am wholly in favour of this action. As the professionals responsible for educating future generations of graduates and postgraduates, they are paid between £24,352 and £37,513; their pay rose, in real terms, by 6.6 per cent between 1994 and 2003, compared with the following real terms increases for comparable groups:
Public sector average: +12%
Personnel, training and industrial relations managers +23%
Managers/senior officials in government (HEO to senior principal/grade 6) +31%
ICT professionals +22%
Medical practitioners +27%
Secondary education teaching professionals +12%
Chartered and certified accountants +12%
[Source: New Earnings Survey (series)]
"The shortfall of teaching funding has badly hit the salaries of academic staff, which have shown practically no increase in real terms over two decades." Tony Blair, speaking to Universities UK, 14 January 2004.
Lecturer pay was cited by university vice-chancellors as one of the key reasons behind their support for top-up fees, and committed to allocate at least a third of the extra income to lecturers' salaries.
More info, and details of how you can support the lecturer's claim for fair pay, here.
Letter to students from the AUT and NATFHE (Word document)
Statement from Universities and Colleges Employer's Association (.pdf)
NB: At the time of compiling this blog entry, the NATFHE website appears to be temporarily unavailable, hence the links to the relevant documents I have provided in the meantime.
Thank you all for your time in this matter.
Rachael.... ♥
After the employers' failure to make an acceptable offer in response to the 2006 claim, AUT and NATFHE members voted strongly in support of both strike action and action short of a strike. Both unions have now called for strike action to take place on 7th March, followed immediately by action short of a strike - which includes an assessment boycott from 8th March until further notice.
Universities & Colleges Employers Association have released a statement, saying that 'University and HE college employers remain disappointed by the strategy of AUT and NATFHE' as they are concerned of the disruption the strike and assessment boycott will have on students, and feel that 'little could have been done to deter them from proceedings with their long-term plans to strike and boycott student assessment work.'
Although this may not involve me directly, I do work occasionally as a learning mentor, and as a humble academic myself, I face the unpalatable prospect of having to go along with the industrial action as part of a national pay dispute between the higher education teaching unions and the lecturers employers, beginning with a one-day strike on 7 March. I am in no way complaining here, as I am wholly in favour of this action. As the professionals responsible for educating future generations of graduates and postgraduates, they are paid between £24,352 and £37,513; their pay rose, in real terms, by 6.6 per cent between 1994 and 2003, compared with the following real terms increases for comparable groups:
Public sector average: +12%
Personnel, training and industrial relations managers +23%
Managers/senior officials in government (HEO to senior principal/grade 6) +31%
ICT professionals +22%
Medical practitioners +27%
Secondary education teaching professionals +12%
Chartered and certified accountants +12%
[Source: New Earnings Survey (series)]
"The shortfall of teaching funding has badly hit the salaries of academic staff, which have shown practically no increase in real terms over two decades." Tony Blair, speaking to Universities UK, 14 January 2004.
Lecturer pay was cited by university vice-chancellors as one of the key reasons behind their support for top-up fees, and committed to allocate at least a third of the extra income to lecturers' salaries.
More info, and details of how you can support the lecturer's claim for fair pay, here.
Letter to students from the AUT and NATFHE (Word document)
Statement from Universities and Colleges Employer's Association (.pdf)
NB: At the time of compiling this blog entry, the NATFHE website appears to be temporarily unavailable, hence the links to the relevant documents I have provided in the meantime.
Thank you all for your time in this matter.
Rachael.... ♥
