UCU National Briefing for FE Branch Officers, November 2006

UCU Branch Officers working in Further, Adult, Prison, and Land-Based Education gathered at The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art for a briefing on issues concerning Equality, Pay and Collective Agreements. Reps from across the Northern Region attended the meeting, which was organised by the Regional Office and attended by key Head Office staff.

Sian Davis (centre) Roger Kline (right)

UCU Branch Officers at the National Briefing

Roger Kline (left) with Barry Lovejoy (right)

Roger Kline, UCU National Head Of Equality and Employment Rights, spoke of the various pieces of Equality legislation which we can use in our collective bargaining agenda: "Ask employers whether they have conducted impact assessments when they are proposing making changes in your College. They very rarely do." Roger explained how the cuts in adult education would hit those who are already disadvantaged and discriminated against and that Branches can use legislation to put pressure on employers.

Sian Davis, Disability Equality Organiser for UCU/UNISON, briefed Reps on the new Disability Equality Duty, which states that all Colleges must now promote disability equality positively, and must draw up plans (in consultation with the trade unions) for how this will be done. The feeling amongst those present was that almost all Colleges had not yet done this.

Barry Lovejoy, National Head of Further Education for UCU, updated Reps on the various collective agreements which the union now has with the Association of Colleges. These can be used as a way for Reps to try and establish good practice in Colleges, and they can be found at http://www.natfhe.org.uk/?id=fued0002

Iain Owens, UCU Northern Regional Official, gave a briefing on the state of play in relation to Pay. Most Colleges in the North-East and Cumbria have reached agreement with UCU on the implementation of the 8-point lecturer scale, but a handful have not. The union has categorised Colleges as red, amber or green. Full details on the Pay campaign can be found at http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1909

With close to 30 people at the briefing, it was a success and Barry Lovejoy announced that Head Office staff coming to talk to Reps across the country would continue as the feedback from briefings had been positive.

If you attended the briefing, please leave a comment. Thanks.