UCU Left - HE Pay 2006

We need a fighting, democratic union worthy of our members

There is now a pressing need to build a democratic union to ensure such a debacle cannot be repeated.

This means:

Electing NEC members and a General Secretary who are willing to fight and will not sell out members;

Ensuring that the new regional committees are empowered to be as democratically effective as possible;

Democratic reform of UCU to make negotiators and NEC more accountable;

Building UCU Left as an effective voice for rank and file UCU members and activists.

Copyright © UCU Left
Webmaster: Mark Campbell


			The UCU Left is a national organisation of University and College Union activists. It is committed to ensuring that the new union has a democratic structure through which members can determine policy, and elected officers and professional officials can be held accountable. It seeks to defend educational equality, and to oppose the consequences of neo-liberal marketisation. It is opposed to all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism.


	HIGHER EDUCATION - PAY CAMPAIGN 2006 Leaflet outlining our response to the ballot result (pdf)

Hold UCU leaders to account!

The recent HE Pay ballot has resulted in the acceptance of the UCEA pay offer of 13.1% over 3 years. On a 55% turn-out some 30% of those voting, over 10,000 members, voted to reject the offer and to ‘resume serious industrial action’. This is a testament to the strength and determination of a large section of the UCU membership.

Unfortunately, it is also clear from the result that the leadership’s decision to defy congress positions and suspend all action prior to the ballot result, and to stretch out the ballot period well into the summer recess, allowing all marks to be submitted and exam boards to be completed, demobilised a large section of our membership.

We believe the majority will have voted yes reluctantly. Many will have done so because they felt the momentum of the campaign had gone once the decision was made to suspend action and that this in effect meant the dispute was all but over.

The UCEA offer comes nowhere near bridging the gap with comparable professions. This pay deal is an unworthy result to the magnificent struggle waged by many thousands of rank and file UCU members. Our leadership’s tactics have effectively snatched a pay defeat from what could have been a substantial victory for our members.

What happens now?

The solid industrial action our members engaged in during the pay dispute indicates that we can still go on the offensive. We have built-up our branches and have engaged with a new layer of activists across the sector. However, we also know that the employers are on the march, tearing up the framework agreement where they can, employing more and more staff on a casual basis and privatising whole teaching functions. For example, there is an employer initiative to privatise language teaching. We have no choice but to fight back and we do not want to do this with one hand tied behind our back. We now need to build the network of rank and file activists around UCU Left in order to help free us from the timidity of the officials.

Many more battles to come

The campaign to achieve decent HE funding and pay must continue. This means involving ourselves in the many battles to come, not only to gain an acceptable pay rise but also to win back control and autonomy in our working lives – something management and the ‘Quality Barons’ appear determined to take away from us.

Already there are struggles in both the FE and HE sector that demand our immediate attention. For example, the issue of casualisation and the serious plight of fixed-term and hourly-paid staff, predominantly women workers, is one that requires resolve. We must be willing to take concerted industrial action, should it be required, to ensure none of our members are treated with the kind of disdain that many of our employers now wish to show us. We need to challenge a twin track approach to casualisation, hourly paid staff and fixed term contract staff that will lead to different conditions in the old and new universities. We need to fight to obtain the best conditions in both sectors.

Networks of activists

In addition, the events of the last few months show it is vital for UCU activists to build rank and file networks that can deliver support for those of us struggling against our employers. We believe these networks need to connect the day-to-day fight against the employer to more general political initiatives in society as a whole. For example, such as the fight against the neo-liberal privatisation agenda in education, health and housing, the campaign to end the occupation of Iraq, the defense of refugees, and the fight against racism and facisim.

In the HE pay dispute our members provided a glimpse of the power that can wrest real gains from our employers. However, this was squandered by an unaccountable leadership. There is now clearly a danger the employers will use their victory in the pay campaign to further attack jobs and conditions of service. We need to be vigilant with regards to this. But, above all, we need to be effectively organised to stop any such attacks in their tracks.