We Did It! 7% for all Staff

At the beginning of this academic year UCU and the other unions successfully negotiated a pay offer of 7% that was put to and agreed by members. Backdated from August 1^st payment all staff received this in Novembers pay in time for Christmas shopping.. In addition, for Lecturing staff, two further pay increments that would previously been dependent on a specific application process that required approval will now be considered annually in accordance with the usual incremental process criteria currently in place within the Lecturer Contract.

It can’t be underestimated what a difference it made to the success of the negotiations with senior management of having a strong branch of UCU members that had voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action should the college not have put forward an acceptable pay offer. The more members we have and the more active we all are = the more we can achieve as a union branch. If you are reading this and are not already a member, please join now -details above.

What Next? – Pay was not the only element of the award that was agreed in October but also these local non-pay elements

• The Variable Hours Contract terms will be reviewed and updated, as previously discussed.
• The Workload Group will reconvene to discuss workload concerns outside of the systems and processes reviews currently underway. Further details will also be shared with the unions representatives regarding the Systems and Processes Groups activities and timeframes for implementation.
• The College is happy to enter discussions regarding career paths for Learning Support Mentors

Some of this work is well underway but in the New Year we will be working further to complete these objectives and will be consulting with members particularly on the issue of Workload so Watch This Space……but you will need to be a member to get the latest updates so see the JOIN UCU tab if you are not a member already.

Your CRC branch of UCU says

‘VOTE YES’!

What is my ‘yes vote’ for?

We want you to vote YES on the current e-ballot on pay, workload & a demand for the sector to return national binding pay bargaining.

Where / how can I vote?

You should have received numerous reminders to vote from UCU national by now which include your link to vote. If you haven’t received your link you can request a replacement here replacement e-ballot request form.

Enough is Enough!

At our branch meeting last week, it was felt that members are angry at the current situation of low pay and high workload and that this is the time to express that as a national unified union of all colleges rather than in local areas.

What is the ballot about?

1. Pay and Workload – Real-terms pay in FE has been shrinking for years and the cost of living crisis has made it even more urgent that we secure a fair deal. We also want colleges to address the unsustainable workloads we face
2. We are Stronger Together! We are calling for a new approach to national negotiations with FE employers.  You can read more about this below.
3. Strike Action – Just to clarify, you are not being asked to vote on taking strike action now. This is a consultation to inform the union whether there is enough support for a future national ballot on strike action. It is important to understand, however, that if you vote YES in this ballot then UCU would be relying on you to support a formal ballot for strike action later if it was needed.

Want more detail?

The results of the e-ballot along with various motions will be debated at a Special FE Sector Conference of all FE Branches in England on April 1^st. Voting will then take place to decide on the strategy moving forward.

What is the difference between national and local bargaining?

Currently we negotiate directly with our local CRC Senior Management Team on any pay offer using the agreed national pay claim as the AoC is a recommendatory body only. If the ballot result /Sector Conference decision (based on the ballot result) is to have a national action strategy we will not discuss or vote on any individual offer from CRC SMT but will defer to the national negotiations.

We appreciate that this is a complicated situation so we would recommend that you read the FAQ’s which cover the majority if not all the questions on the ballot. You can access them here

read the Respect FE e-ballot FAQs

Please take the time to read them and …

Make your voice heard by voting!

4/11/22 UPDATE ON FINAL OFFER BALLOT 

The turnout in the vote reached over 50% which is significant for such a ballot. If this had been a formal vote on industrial action it would have meant the branch would have reached over the legal threshold to be able to follow up the process of industrial dispute under the current trade union balloting laws so many thanks to all of you that participated. This is an important fact worth noting as we look forward to building the Branch further so that when we enter into negotiations for 23-24 we are in an even stronger position should we need to take action.  This is something we will be communicating to SMT at future meetings so they are further aware of strength of feeling on pay.

The vote result is as follows –

Accept 64.71%

Reject 35.29%

So on that basis UCU CRC Branch accepts the final pay offer from SMT. We would however like to point out that although the majority result is to accept we did get overwhelming feedback that members were very unhappy with the 2.5% offer for all staff / rising up to 2.5%-6.5% for support staff under 22k band but are taking a pragmatic approach on viewing the offer as a whole with the expectation that any offer for 23-24 will see an improvement in a consolidated pay offer for all staff.

Full Details of all the offer here – FE pay claim 2022 – final offer

Last July following consultation with members we submitted our pay claim for 22-23 and commenced the scheduled 3 meetings for negotiation on this claim so I wanted to update you all on progress so far.

The first meeting on 6/7/22 was to follow up the lodging of the claim and consisted of discussion around the various elements so that the college were clear on our demands. It was also opportunity to discuss their initial response and for us to request documentary evidence such as up to date financial information so that we could complete any due diligence necessary to the financial status of the college in relation to any offers. Shortly after that meeting we received the first formal response and offer for consideration.

Today (1/9/22) we had our second of those meetings to reply to that first response to our claim. Currently the position is that whilst all the elements of part 2 of the claim are agreed in principal which is very positive progress, the offer in regards to part 1 of the consolidated pay awards is not satisfactory. We have formally asked them to revisit this with a view to return to the third meeting with an improved offer. They have agreed to do this. There is positive acknowledgement and empathy from the college that staff are facing a cost of living crisis with a will to review their response to see what might be possible within the budget constraints. We expect the outcome of that review to take some weeks so we may not have any more updates for you until the end of September. The next steps will be that after the third meeting we will confirm the final offer from the college to put to members for ballot. We will hold online meetings at that point also to report back and answer any questions. Just to confirm any offer (if accepted) by members would be backdated from August 1^st.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all UCU CRC members. Enjoy your break and resist the urge to work. See you in 2022 x

Dear all

as mentioned in previous communication we met with UCU Regional Office on Thursday and then with SMT on Friday morning for a discussion and update following the announcement to return to on site teaching from 8^th March. At our meeting with SMT on Friday we were reassured that the college is addressing all the issues recommended by UCU that we raise and have H&S of staff & students as their priority. The return to site measures are covered in the college communications so please refer to those for all the details. The headline to bear in mind  is this is not a full return to on site teaching but to pre-lockdown arrangements with extra H&S measures in place. Staff are only required on site for teaching so can/should work from home where possible/practical.

It still remains the case that if you are concerned about your individual situation then in the first instance you can talk to your line manager to work through and address those concerns. Where appropriate you can request an individual risk assessment or review of an existing one. If , however you feel that your concerns aren’t being addressed satisfactorily then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – ucu@camre.ac.uk

There is also the latest H&S Covid 19  information on the UCU National Website here – https://www.ucu.org.uk/covid19