Higher Education Job Evaluation Survey 2006 report
Pensions Survey
Pay negotiations
TUC Greening Your Workplace Conference
Organising using new technology
CIHE conference calls for outsourcing of Higher Education workers
Pay Line
Unionlearn – Union Skills Boost
New Education Minister
Trade Union Freedom Bill
Higher Education Job Evaluation Survey 2006 report
Amicus has just completed its second survey report on the higher education job evaluation process. We had a fantastic response from many reps and the report should make some interesting reading as to how Job Evaluation has been going throughout the sector. The full report will be launched during the sector conferences in June.
Pensions Survey
Also available at June’s sector conference will be the updated results of Amicus’ higher education pensions survey. This useful negotiating tool gives details of the numerous pension schemes offered to Amicus members throughout the higher education sector. For those not attending the conference the survey will soon be online for you to browse at your leisure.
Pay negotiations
The results of the recent JNCHES meeting (8 th May) have again been inconclusive with the UCEA making an underwhelming offer of a phased increase of 12.6% over three years. While NATFHE and the AUT continued their hard line approach, the PTASS unions took a more constructive attitude. Amicus has been pushing for a reduced working week and much better holiday provisions as well as an increased offer for the lowest paid staff.
Amicus National officer, Mike Robinson has advised that “decisions are yet to be made and we are working hard to improve the offer. Amicus members should see my full briefing recently circulated to reps for further details.â€
TUC Greening Your Workplace Conference
The Trade Union Council are holding a Greening Your Workplace Conference on the 8th June This conference aims to encourage union reps to tackle energy and climate change issues at work. If you are interested in going along or simply finding out more then visit: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-11813-f0.cfm
Organising using new technology
Places are available on the forthcoming TUC Organising Academy Course – ORGANISING USING NEW TECHNOLOGY – which will take place on May 24th and 25th 2006 at the TUC, Congress House, London.
The course is free and will be of interest to union organisers, officers and staff involved ion supporting union organising strategies. http://www.tuc.org.uk/organisation/tuc-11806-f0.cfm
CIHE conference calls for outsourcing of Higher Education workers
A recent report by the Council for Industry and Higher Education has called for more research staff, student support and administration to be outsourced overseas to make UK universities more economically sustainable. The report surveyed the heads of 45 multinational corporations and argued that the move was necessary as a way to foster more strategic partnerships between the UK and other universities world wide as well as to cut costs. Mike Robinson, Amicus National Officer, said that “I am extremely concerned that such moves would lead to major job losses in the sector. Universities should be setting an example to other employers not cashing in on cheaper more exploitable labour markets overseas.â€
Pay Line
Amicus is continuing to create its Pay Line database of information regarding the pay and terms and conditions of all the organisations where Amicus has members. If you need to find out comparative information about salary scales in other organisations, regional allowances, maternity and paternity leave and a myriad of other agreements that would be useful when undertaking negotiations with management, then visit Pay Line at the Amicus web site under the My Amicus banner. Please continue to send copies of your current pay scales, terms and conditions etc to Labour Research Department who are compiling the database and always inform them of any salary settlements. To provide LRD with agreements either email to lemery@lrd.org.uk or send to
Lewis Emery, LRD, 78, Blackfriars Road , London , SE1 8HF.
Unionlearn – Union Skills Boost
Chancellor Gordon Brown has joined with the TUC to promote their new workplace learning initiative. Called Unionlearn, this will provide support and advice on lifelong learning and workforce development across England and tie in with the government’s Skills Strategy. It will focus on literacy and numeracy skills and Level 2 qualifications amongst the seven million adults in England who lack basic skills, as well as Continuing Professional Development. The initiative also aims to encourage greater employer support for training and strengthen union membership.
The project is a partnership between the Department for Education and Skills and TUC, and the Government has provided £4.5 million funding for initial costs. From April 2007, Unionlearn will also takeover the management of the Union Learning Fund, which is currently more than £14 million, from the Learning & Skills Council.
Unionlearn will also lead the way in providing support to workplace Union Learning Representatives (ULRs). These local representatives are the frontline in union learning whose main role is to raise awareness of learning opportunities and to help workers access suitable courses. There are currently 14,000 trained learning representatives in the UK . By 2010, Unionlearn aims to have recruited 22,000 learning representatives, and will help 250,000 workers into learning each year.
New Education Minister
Former Higher Education minister Alan Johnson takes over from Ruth Kelly as the Education Secretary in the recent government reshuffle. Alan has a strong union background and Amicus hopes he will work closely and constructively with us in the role.
Trade Union Freedom Bill
There is a new TUC briefing that describes the need for a Trade Union Freedom Bill. This provides case studies of instances where existing employment and trade union law has failed to deliver justice and fairness at work. The briefing also indicates what the main provisions of a Bill might be. The full briefing can be found below:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/law/tuc-11857-f0.cfm
This e-bulletin has been produced by James Lazou, Research Officer for the Higher Education sector. If you have any news items or stories you would like included in the bulletin please contact James at James.Lazou@amicustheunionorg