A message from Roger

The UCU general secretary ballot result has now been declared and Sally Hunt has been elected. The union and our members face major and difficult challenges from employers and government in almost every aspect of our working lives. The turnout was just 13.9 per cent which in itself suggests the scale of the challenge the union faces. I wish Sally Hunt very well in meeting those challenges. To meet them successfully will require a clear strategic vision and a determined articulate response which members can have confidence in and ownership of. I will seek to play my part in ensuring that is the case through my continuing role as Head of Equality and Employment Rights Finally I would like to sincerely thank the hundreds of members who sent messages of support and campaigned during the election.

Monday, 22 January 2007

Friday 19th January

The green, green grass of Wales

Can the whole of the UK draw lessons from what has happened to FE pay in Wales?

Question at Cardiff hustings

A wet Friday night in Cardiff was not ideal weather for a hustings, but questions provoked a lively discussion.

Whereas the “locust years” following incorporation in England have been followed by “contestability”, a narrowing of the curriculum, an attack on adult education and a blip of increased funding, the Welsh Assembly has certainly had a more enlightened approach to education than its English counterpart.

A determination by our Wales FE members to secure more funding, accompanied on occasion by a willingness to take industrial action, has met a quite different reception to that of English ministers. As a result, pay scales are now substantially higher than in England with parity with school teachers achieved across the entire country.

At the hustings the FE negotiators had come hotfoot from talks with the employers where it was clear that some progress was possible on the latest stage of the campaign to secure Wales-wide agreements on terms and conditions, no doubt encouraged by the imminent industrial action ballot.

That combination of a willingness to threaten and take industrial action together with effective lobbying and a Government prepared to stump up the funding needed, has demonstrated what is possible. Well done our Welsh FE members.

Why on earth shouldn’t those teaching in FE get at least the same as school teachers?

I’m quite clear that will only happen through a national approach. That is why I am surprised that Sally Hunt continues to state on her website that we need to “recognise the realities of local bargaining” in FE. Local bargaining – whether in HE or FE – will only exacerbate inequality. Recognising that we have some way to go in achieving fully effective national bargaining (true) - is quite different to suggesting that there is any alternative to seeking it, especially when employers in all sectors want fully local bargaining

Quote of the day

“Dad, thought you should know, I’ve been elected as secretary of the school council after the elections today”

Leah, 11, youngest pupil in her 1800 strong comprehensive school.

Is this an omen asks proud dad??
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A trade unionist all his working life. An activist and a proud campaigner, Roger has consistently worked to defend human rights of workers. As the leader of the Equality and Employment Rights team in the newly formed UCU he continues to unite the movement around equality and keep employment rights at the top of the agenda.