Stewards have heard concerns from members regarding the University’s decision to pay the 1% increase in wages in September (backdated by a month) rather than wait for the outcome of the current pay dispute. Some members feel that this looks like a “fait accompli” and that accepting this increase may somehow weaken our case. “Why did the unions accept this?” is a question we have heard.

The fact is that the staff side were not consulted and this was a unilateral decision. The University has explicitly said that it will honour any higher award, if that were agreed, and fully backdate that too. My own opinion, and this is not an “official” statement in any way, is that miserly though the 1% increase is I would rather have it now than in several months time as the bills I have to pay can’t wait that long! This doesn’t mean I have given up on the possibility of a better offer and more backdated pay to come later on… and nor should other members.

I’ll close this brief posting by reminding members that the ballot closes on 8th October so if you have not returned your ballot paper you need to do that _today_!

The UNISON ballot of higher education members is underway. The union is urging members to vote for strike action in response to the 1% pay offer. The ballot opened 18 September 2013 and a ballot paper should be arriving at your home address shortly (if it has not done so already). All ballot forms need to be returned no later than 8 October 2013 to make sure that your vote is registered.

While universities have been offering expensive incentives to students like iPads, or money towards tuition fees, higher education staff have seen their pay eroded over the last 5 years. Living costs have increased by more than 15% over this time but pay increases for most staff have been around 2.2%. Members have seen their standards of living fall substantially.

In the meantime Vice Chancellors and other senior managers are finding that their salaries are increasing significantly. The sector finds itself in a sound financial position and can afford to fund higher pay offers.

Other higher education trade unions are also balloting members with a view to taking industrial action over pay. UNISON University of Kent branch has met with reps from other trade unions based on campus and have agreed that if members of each of the unions all back strike action we will work closely together on co-ordinating our efforts. (By, for example, holding joint meetings… tentative dates of 14th or 15th October are being considered, in both cases starting at 14:00.)

UNISON is also campaigning on issues such as the Living Wage for the lowest paid staff in the sector as well as seeking ways to address the inequalities for staff around the gender pay gap and the increasing use of zero hour contracts.

Information, resources and details of how you can become more involved in the campaign can be found on UNISON’s key issues webpage http://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/education-services/key-issues/higher-education-pay-ballot-2013/home/

Keep up to date with the latest information by following us on twitter @UNISONinHE or on Facebook UNISON in Higher Education.

The UNISON Marquee will be outside the Cornwallis Building on Thursday 19 September from 10:30 – 4:00.

UNISON marquee

… So try to bring along colleagues who may not be members but might be open to persuasion. (You could just happen to walk that way, for example.)

Freebies and vouchers will be on offer and there’ll be a Prize Draw too as well as lots of information/leaflets.

UNISON is urging members to vote ‘YES’ to industrial action in this month’s ballot which would mean members taking strike action in the autumn. We believe it is time to make a stand and show the employers that 1% is simply not enough. The following leaflet (PDF) explains why pay matters.

See what you think….

If it wasn’t for UNISON and the other HE unions (see reports below) employers would have probably tried offering no increase at all…. While not implying for a second that 1% is enough consider this:

UKC Grade 2 posts start at £14520 p.a. so a 1% increase is £145.20 per year which is £12.10 per month (before tax). UNISON subs at that pay rate are £9.70 per month.

At Grade 6 the equivalent figures are £21.25 per month with UNISON sub for workers at that rate of pay amounting to £17.25 per month.

If you join us and fight for more how can you be any worse off? Please send a link to this page to a non-member today!

(Acknowledgements to Max Watson, NEC member for HE, from whose blog I adapted the image above. The address for Max’s blog is http://maxwatsonunison.blogspot.co.uk)

The University branch of UNISON has been contacted by a representative for a group of staff who were apparently advised that if they wish to have water to drink at work – hardly unreasonable, and particularly in the current very warm spell of weather – they should bring in bottled water of their own.

An Area Organiser for UNISON advises: “…the law requires employers to provide employees with a clean source of water supply, either water dispensers/fountains or bottled water according to the Workplace (Health and Safety) Regulations 1992…. generally we would expect a ‘sensible’ employer to provide [a] source of cool water [or] water at normal/room temperature, as we find it most commonly available in schools, hospital, council offices etc.”

Please refer to page 6 of the following guide (under the section headed “Welfare”):

Members on campus will have noted from our recent Newsletter the narrow majority (about 52%) backing the possibility of industrial action. Both regionally and nationally there were majorities, although by no means large ones, also backing industrial action.

UNISON has decided to ballot members later this summer, as explained in the latest HE bulletin HE-Pay-Matters-Members-Bulletin-3.

It is important that prior to the ballot any change of address, phone number, name, workplace address, or email address are communicated to UNISON. You can view and update your personal details online at My UNISON: http://www.unison.org.uk/my-unison/ or phone UNISONdirect on 0845 355 0845.

Please also email unison@kent.ac.uk if you have moved from one workplace to another on the campus. Employers are entitled to challenge the validity of a ballot if there are inaccuracies in our records so it is essential that we get this information 100% correct.

The cover of our summer 2013 branch newsletter

Our branch newsletter for summer 2013 should be distributed to members next week but you can read it online now via the link below. Among the articles is the (very close) result of our consultation on pay. 52% of members have voted to reject the offer. Regional/national figures will start to emerge in another few days and will be highlighted on UNISONmatters as soon as possible.

Summer 2013 newsletter (PDF, 463 KB)

The summer newsletter for UNISON in Higher Education has been published and, unsurprisingly, focuses on pay matters in particular.

Meanwhile our Branch newsletter for the summer is nearing completion and should be circulated to members by early July. A PDF version will be made available here.

In 2009 management notified UNISON that they were going to discontinue unsocial hours payments. A protection arrangement for existing staff was negotiated which took into account the situation at that time, locally and nationally, in terms of pay. The expectation was that during the transitional period pay would eventually have risen by around 10% which it was hoped would “cushion” the loss of this payment.

Of course all staff would have had the benefit of this projected increase in pay so relative to their colleagues staff working unsocial hours would not be being compensated for it once the protection arrangement expired. Since there have been real-terms pay cuts, let alone a double digit percentage increase, in the time since then UNISON is raising this issue again.

We believe there is still a need to recognise that some staff are being asked to work unsocial hours currently, and may be asked to work more in the future. Therefore management need to negotiate a payment that compensates already low-paid staff for being required to work unsocial hours. We recognise that there were issues with the former system, especially a lack of clarity as to what the payment was and when it was triggered, simply withdrawing the payment did not address this.

We are therefore asking for there to be meaningful negotiations with management to deal with this issue and to agree a payment that will properly compensate low-paid staff who are being asked to work flexibly outside of what most people would regard as core working hours. The University expects to be able to offer services during these times but our members, quite rightly, expect that they will be compensated
for working hours that would be commonly regarded as unsocial.

In the meantime, however, the branch feels strongly that those currently in receipt of enhanced rates AND who are still working unsocial hours, should continue to receive the payments. It is not enough that the Framework Agreement and Harmonisation are held up as a just reason for sticking with the agreement that took place around four years ago when the situation was not looking so grim in terms of pay awards.