HE sector conference: pay and job security

Special HE sector conference held on 11 February 2010 to consider the draft 2010 pay claim and campaign.

Contents

• Background
• Key documents

Pay and job security – special HE sector conference in 2010

At its meeting on 4 December 2009 UCU's higher education committee was united in its condemnation of the employers' refusal, throughout the long negotiations over the 2009 pay claim, to respond positively to the trade unions' reasonable request for agreed arrangements for the avoidance of redundancies in higher education. HEC was similarly united in declaring the employers' final offer of a 0.5% pay rise for the year unacceptable, and was highly critical of the employers' failure to bargain in good faith in the course of the year's negotiations.

In noting the unsatisfactory conclusion to the 2009 national negotiating round, and bearing in mind the expectation of rising inflation in coming months, HEC resolved that the deficit resulting from the employers' unwillingness to provide a pay increase of more that 0.5% will be treated as an IOU which UCU will press for in the 2010 pay claim.

UCU will continue to link the political issues being raised in the Make Education Count campaign with its industrial demands.

The HEC also agreed the following outline timetable to prepare and develop the 2010 pay claim and campaign:

• the UCU national negotiators will meet on Friday 8 January to consider the key issues for UCU in the 2010 claim
• the five trade unions will meet on 12 January. It is hoped to agree the outline of a joint union claim and associated campaign materials (based on the 5 unions, 1 demand model)
• a UCU special sector conference will be called before 12 February to consider the draft claim and campaign for 2010
• the five trade unions will meet on 23 February, hopefully to agree the joint draft claim.

Branches/LAs are given early notice of the need to convene meetings between 12 and 28 January to elect delegates and discuss motions for the sector conference.

See the full calling notice (UCU224) below for further information, including a report from the national negotiators.

Key documents

• Higher Education Sector Special Conference, 11 February 2010: AGENDA (UCU240) | RTF version of UCU240
• Higher Education Sector Special Conference, 11 February 2010: motions received (first report of the Congress Business Committee) (UCU235) | RTF version of UCU235
  
• Calling notice: Special Higher Education Sector Conference, Thursday 11 February 2010 (UCU224) | RTF version of UCU224
• Special Higher Education Sector Conference 11 February 2010 (UCUHE41) | RTF version of UCUHE41

• Standing orders of UCU Congress, 2009-10 (.pdf) [303kb]
• Standing orders of UCU Congress, 2009-10 (.doc) [150kb]