Enough is Enough - Why I voted to reject my public sector pay offer of 1%

Today I received a consultation email from UCU asking whether our negotiators should reject the "full and final" offer of 1%.  After three years of begrudgingly accepting the miserable pay offers being inflicted on the public sector, well below the level of inflation, I feel that the time has come for public sector unions to say no to the austerity measuring being doled out.  My main reasons for rejecting the offer are as follows:

• Our union negotiators are recommending we reject the offer saying 

Your negotiators are clear that when set against current RPI of 3.5%, the employers are offering a real-terms pay cut for the fourth year in succession and once again refusing to negotiate at a national level on a range of issues in respect of UCU equality policy. 

• The austerity being doled out by the ConDem coalition is damaging our economy.  When they came into power in 2010 we were on the road to recovery, in these three years they have turned the recovery around and taken us into another recession.  Millions of public sector workers have seen below inflation pay rises for the past 3 years and have had to reign in their spending, hence less is being spent on the high street and the economy is faltering.
• Finally, the government insulted millions of low paid workers in the recent budget by reducing the higher rate income tax band from 50p to 45p.  Any illusion that we were "all in this together" finally went up in smoke when Osborne gave the richest in this country a tax break.  As I pointed out in my blog post after the budget the facts and figures were massaged and the 50p tax band not given enough time to work so that the coalition could propagate the fallacy that the 50p tax rate was not bringing in any extra income into the treasury.

I urge my colleagues in UCU and those in all other public sector unions currently balloting on below inflation pay offers to finally say "enough is enough" and reject the government's collective punishment of public sector workers.

Finally I would call on all union activists to build for the 'A Future That Works' mass demonstration on 20th October called by the TUC, further details at http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-21056-f0.cfm

Is this the beginning of the end for a public higher education system?

Two stories about HE have made the press this week.  The first is the Browne report which proposes tuitions fees starting at £7000 but with no upper limit, it would therefore be no surprise if we see much higher fees, especially from the Russell Group universities.


Then today we see a leaked letter from Universities UK which has been sent to universities warning them to expect cuts of £4.2bn to teaching budgets and £1bn to research budgets a result of the comprehensive spending review.

The result of both these proposals could be an end to the higher education system as we know it.  It would not be a surprise if we see a drop in student applications from those who do not wish to saddle themselves with debts at more than double the current level.  We could also see some universities going bankrupt due to budget cuts and decreased public funding.

What is most worrying is that this clearly looks like the final step to a privatised university system.  If these changes are implemented universities will need to start funding some arts and humanities courses purely from student fees, as funding is to be withdrawn from all but science, engineering, medicine and modern language degrees and with variable fees we are already very close to seeing a private market in HE with only one more step needed to make the system completely funded by tuition fees and private research funding.

UCU and the NUS have organised a joint national demo called "Fund our future:Stop Education Cuts" on 10th November 2010.  Details at http://www.demo2010.org/

Joint union statement on HE job cuts

The following is from the UCU website:

The following statement has been signed by NUS, UCU, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS.

'As representatives of both staff and students in higher education, we are deeply concerned at the announcement by the UCEA (the national body that negotiates on behalf of UK universities) that two-thirds of all universities are considering job cuts.

At a time when demand from students for access to higher education has never been greater we believe that any strategy of cutting jobs is deeply problematic.

The scale of redundancies in those institutions who have already announced cuts is substantial with both jobs and whole departments threatened. Cutting jobs could further raise staff:student ratios (which have already doubled in the last 15 years), and lead to larger seminar, class and lecture sizes; less contact time and an increased workload for those staff who remain. Any proposals to cut crucial support and academic related staff jobs without whom universities simply could not function will not be accepted by any union as a rationalisation for protecting such ratios. Cuts of any kind could have a devastating impact upon the quality of education experienced by current and future students.

Given UCEA has raised the spectre of mass redundancies across HE at national negotiations, there should be nothing in principle to stop the HE sector from coming together to provide reassurances on seeking to avoid job cuts rather than their current position- hiding behind claims of institutional autonomy.

We therefore believe that a partnership between unions and employers to reach a national agreement on job security is essential if we are to defend education.

We pledge to campaign together on defending education, reflecting the belief that our sector plays a critical role in mitigating the effects of the economic recession; creating the conditions for future prosperity and providing all in our communities with access to the opportunity to learn.'

UCU NEC elections

The University and College Union's NEC election's are upon us. Please consider voting for the UCU Left candidates. Below is an extract from their website:

UCU Left - NEC Candidates - 2009


We believe UCU members need representatives on the NEC who will fight alongside them, and that our NEC should be made up of the best local and regional activists who stand up for and mobilise UCU members.

The UCU Left candidates standing in these elections meet those criteria. They are representatives who will truly make themselves accountable to the members and they reflect the dynamism of our union, women and men, black and white, gay and straight, disabled and non-disabled. They include many leading members who have a proven record as fighters in the union. They also include new younger activists who’ve emerged out of the recent battles in Higher and Further Education. We believe all of them will bring with them commitment to creating a democratic, member led, progressive union to the new NEC.

For details of the candidates visit http://www.uculeft.devisland.net/nec-elections-2009.html