UCU NEC FE NEWSLETTER – LONDON & EAST REGION

FEC report 19/05/08

Keep up the pressure - all out to lobby MPs on June 9^th

On Friday the Further Education Committee (FEC) met to assess the strike on the 24^th April, its impact and the next steps in the campaign. What follows is a report of that meeting:

24^TH April- a great success.

The reports from around the country about the day of strike action on the 24^th April were very positive.  College after college reported the highest ever turnouts on picket lines, with very few crossing.  There where many reports of colleges, traditionally not the union’s strongest workplaces, having very well supported days and recruiting lots of new members: the union nationally has recruited 40% more than this time last year. There were also examples given from traditionally better-organised colleges where the action, although solid, had a few more crossing than normal, with picket attendance not as good as in the past due to them having to constantly battle over a range of issues over a number of years.  However these reports where in the minority.

The joint action with the NUT and PCS clearly was a success. Many members joined the joint demonstrations and rallies around the country. 25,000 teachers, lecturers and civil servants attended them.  The London demonstration and rally was a particularly spectacular affair: 10,000 marched and 2 and half thousand packed Westminster Central Hall, with 1,000s locked outside (apologises if you were one).  The rally had an electric atmosphere as the audience heard speeches from among others Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the TUC, Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU, Christine Blower, acting General Secretary NUT, Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS, Sean Vernell and Kevin Courtney UCU/NUT London representatives on respective NECs.

Don’t worry if you missed the London demo/rally colleagues from City and Islington College’s Media Department have videoed the day. Edited highlights will be put up on UCU’s website. It will be a great thing to show at your next branch meeting.

Congratulations to all our members for making the day such a great start to our campaign for a decent living wage and the defence of Further and Adult Education.

A united campaign

This pay campaign is a united one with all public sector unions. We fought very hard, as did our colleagues in the NUT and PCS, to ensure that the first day of action was a joint one.  UNISON local government NEC announced last week that they too would be balloting their 800,000 members to take strike action.  We will strive wherever possible to take strike action alongside other unions because we recognise it is this kind of unity that really worries the employers and government and makes them listen to our concerns. 

However it won’t always be possible. The NUT for example only balloted their members for one day i.e. the 24^th. So they will have to re-ballot their members for further action, which they will be doing. However if they decide to do so this side of the summer break they won’t be taking action until July (possibly with UNISON local government).  This of course would be difficult for us.

We need to strive for unity where we can whilst at the same time remain focused on our demands as FE lecturers.

Impact so far….

We met the employers on May 1at. They offered us 2.5%.  All the unions firmly rejected this offer.  Inflation is now at 4.2% (RPI) and even the government’s fake inflation figure, the CPI, is at 3%, with the Governor of the Bank of England warning that inflation is set to rise even further in the coming year.

Although the offer is well below what we deserve it is worth stating that this is the highest starting offer for a very long time.  The employers have agreed to meet us on the 5^th June to present a new offer. The first strike day put real pressure on the employers; we now need to keep up the momentum.

The next steps in the campaign

It was agreed overwhelmingly at the FEC (with only one abstention) to put into action the following package of strikes and protests:

4^th June: Joint FE union day of protest on the eve of second round of negotiations with the employers:  All the college unions have agreed to hold a protest on this day to highlight how much work we all do which is unpaid.  We are encouraging branches in their lunch break to organise to hand into their Principal an invoice for unpaid work. Invite the press to your college to cover the protest. Get in contact with your local unison/GMB rep to organise the joint protest.  Perhaps hold a joint union meeting.

9^TH June:  London wide strike to join TUC lobby of Parliament on Low pay.  This will be a strike across all London colleges with strike pay backed up by a further day of protest across all colleges across England if the AoC does not come up with an acceptable offer.  There will be a £10 levy of all UCU members outside of London to support London members coming out for the day to Lobby MPs on behalf of FE members across the country. This will be organised centrally.  The union is organising for two delegates per college outside of London to come to London to lobby. We will also be lobbying the new “gated” offices of the AoC in Oxford Street on the same day.

We appreciate for some colleges that some colleagues teaching might be finished however we should not simply measure the success of this day on how many classes we close but how many MPs and employers hear our message on the day.  We therefore are calling on members to picket their colleges in the morning and then get as many colleagues as possible to Parliament and the lobby of the A0C.

We also recognise that some colleges are facing redundancies. Lambeth College faces a further £2.7 million worth of cuts, which makes £6 million in three years. Similarly Hackney College has announced a cuts-and-redundancy package. This makes the Lobby of Parliament even more timely. We will be lobbying all London MPs about the whole position of FE: including cuts and redundancies, and we’ll be raising the issue of London weighting.  

September:  2 further days of strike action if the employers don’t meet our demands.   We could also be joined with FE Unison members who have said that they too will be balloting their members to come out in September with us.

There is a branch reps meeting for all London branches on Tuesday at 6.30 at Kingsway and Westminster College in Kings Cross. Contact Louis Wood for more details. Please try to attend.

**If you want someone from the FEC or the national office to come and speak to your branch or branch committee, contact Brian, Sean or Chris Powell. Sally Hunt, the General Secretary and Barry Lovejoy, Head of Colleges, will be happy to come and speak.**

Stop the Fascist BNP- 21^st June London demonstration

Called by Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate racism

The London Mayor and GLA elections were a miserable day for all progressive people across the capital.  The Tory, Boris Johnson, being elected was worrying enough, but the election of one BNP member has sent shock waves throughout the communities we serve.

On the day of the elections the NEC was meeting and your delegates to the NEC put and passed a motion calling upon the union to condemn the racist policies of the BNP and to back all protests against them. The motion was passed unanimously.

We are calling upon all UCU members to come on the protest on the 21^st, bring your friends, family and tell your students.  We want to make absolutely clear to the Nazis in the assembly and all his racist friends that London is a multicultural city and it is staying like that.

See you there.

If there are any questions that you might have please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Sean Vernell: svernell@candi.ac.uk; Brian Ingham: bingham@rutc.ac.uk