{"id":88,"date":"2016-04-20T11:48:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T10:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/?p=88"},"modified":"2016-04-20T12:57:36","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T11:57:36","slug":"2016-pay-ballot-open-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/2016\/04\/20\/2016-pay-ballot-open-now\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 pay ballot open now!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our union is currently balloting us on the 2016 pay offer. Members\u00a0should receive your ballot paper in the post by today (Wednesday 20th April) at the latest. The envelope looks like this! <a href=\"https:\/\/list.mercury.ucu.org.uk\/t\/2342\/3541\/941\/2\/\">http:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/media\/8000\/ERS-envelope\/Image\/ERS_envelope.JPG<\/a> The local committee is calling on\u00a0all members\u00a0to please:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check the post for your ballot envelope which will look like this. <a href=\"https:\/\/list.mercury.ucu.org.uk\/t\/2342\/3541\/941\/3\/\">http:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/media\/8000\/ERS-envelope\/Image\/ERS_envelope.JPG<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Read and share our union\u2019s \u2018Why should I vote\u2019 article. <a href=\"https:\/\/list.mercury.ucu.org.uk\/t\/2342\/3541\/950\/4\/\">https:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/whyshouldivote<\/a><\/li>\n<li>A ballot re-issue request for will go live as of Wednesday 20th April and we have\u00a0circulated that link by e-mail. If you have not received a ballot paper by then,\u00a0please complete the online form<\/li>\n<li>Complete and return your ballot paper as soon as you can in the envelope provided\u2026.it\u2019s free!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whatever your views on pay it really is crucial that every member votes in this ballot and that we are able to demonstrate the strength of feeling amongst staff here. The ballot closes on 4 May. Please don\u2019t leave it to others to speak for you \u2013 cast your vote now! If you have\u00a0not received your ballot paper it is very important that you click here to\u00a0request one today: <a href=\"https:\/\/list.mercury.ucu.org.uk\/t\/2424\/3546\/981\/3\/\">https:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/no-HE-ballot-paper<\/a>. The ballot period is short and closes Wednesday 4 May 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Ballot queries<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0member who is abroad and won\u2019t be back until after the ballot period\u00a0asked:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Is there a way she can vote electronically?<\/li>\n<li>Can she authorise someone else to complete her ballot for her?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>No \u2013 electronic voting is\u00a0against the law so there is no such facility\u00a0&#8211; but you could lobby your MP\u00a0now for amendments in the TU Bill (on this and other questions)<\/li>\n<li>Members need to request a duplicate ballot to be sent to an alternative address \u2013 and NOW: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/list.mercury.ucu.org.uk\/t\/2424\/3536\/981\/1\/\">request a replacement here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The University management\u2019s response to the ballot<\/p>\n<p>You may have seen the message sent out by Denise Everitt about the situation \u2018we\u2019 are in. However we are not all in it together! A few carefully chosen figures are offered to suggest what a tight corner we are in, but the management doesn\u2019t acknowledge that\u00a0pay keeps on increasing significantly in real terms at the top end. Many Vice Chancellors are earning between 10 and 20 times more than a new lecturer&#8230;.. \u00a0And ours is earning approximately nine times a new lecturer on bottom of Grade 7. NINE extra points have been introduced on the Managerial and Professorial scale, taking the top of that scale from \u00a3155,002 to \u00a3180,000. Meanwhile peanuts are offered to grades 7-10 and below and anyone who\u2019s been on the same point on the scale for the past seven or eight years has suffered a real terms pay cut of 14.5%.<\/p>\n<p>Further, at the same time that they invest substantial sums of money in a buildings&#8217;\u00a0beauty contest to tickle NSS scores, universities continue\u00a0to increase the\u00a0use of precarious contracts for teaching and research &#8211; those activities being the core and distinctive thing universities actually DO. We in higher education owe it to our students to invest in our staff &#8211; teaching, research and academic related &#8211;\u00a0so we can continue to deliver world class education and expand human knowledge. Failure to invest in &#8220;front line&#8221; staff will inevitably affect the work which is done, which means the quality of the teaching and research. That will diminish our universities\u2019 influence and impact in the world, as well as being a gross disservice to students who are increasingly burdened with debt that they may never be able to discharge.<\/p>\n<p>The higher education unions have tried and failed to move beyond the main offers year on year, of which the 1% they are offering now is typical. They say we are disrupting a timetable \u2026 in which the employer holds all the cards and meetings are timed to debilitate the union&#8217;s ability to engage in meaningful negotiations. We say it\u2019s time to give the majority of staff a fair deal, and the unions need your participation and support to make it happen.<\/p>\n<p>Paul, Sian and Owen<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Branch officers<\/p>\n<p>University of Kent branch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our union is currently balloting us on the 2016 pay offer. Members\u00a0should receive your ballot paper in the post by today (Wednesday 20th April) at &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/2016\/04\/20\/2016-pay-ballot-open-now\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39717,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39717"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}