The Friday email: 1 December 2023

Respect FE campaign delivers on pay

The latest deals on college pay (England) include an improved offer at Bolton College after members took three days of strike action earlier this month, a 10% uplift at Tameside College, an uplift of up to 9.5% at South Staffordshire College and an 8.5% uplift at Hopwood Hall College. UCU has called on the remaining small number of increasingly isolated bosses to get back to the negotiating table, make meaningful offers, and settle the dispute.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'After a sustained campaign for better pay and conditions in further education we are proud to announce these latest pay awards, which will go a long way to helping college staff meet the cost-of-living crisis.'

• Meanwhile three new days of strike action have been announced at five colleges in the North East that form part of the Education Training Collective (ETC), and you can read more here.
• UCU has contributed to the Skills 2030 initiative aimed at developing a set of recommendations for the next government to develop FE and the skills necessary grow the UK economy.

Prison education: unlocking futures

• The Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) has produced this new guide aimed at supporting educators to develop the prison curriculum.
• Education in Welsh prisons was debated in Parliament this week and you can watch Liz Saville Roberts MP, chair of the joint unions parliamentary group (JUPG), which UCU is a part of, talking about issues including staffing levels, prisoner rehabilitation and workload here.

Find out more about our prison education members and the crucial work they do working with offenders here.

Exposed: build the campaign

UCU members have been subject to monitoring and surveillance by government departments, with secret dossiers compiled of their support for equality, diversity and inclusion. We have concerns that more of our members have been targeted in this way and that's why we have launched this new Exposed campaign on free speech, academic freedom and state surveillance.

You can help build our campaign by:

• following our Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram accounts and sharing content using #ExposedCampaign
• sharing our new campaign website and asking your friends, family and students to sign up as supporters.

UCU Rising consultation: have your say

Please attend your local branch meeting on UCU Rising next steps and make sure your voice is heard prior to the meeting of branch delegates taking place on Wednesday 13 December.

Solidarity with Oxford Brookes UCU

Please sign the petition to defend jobs and education at Oxford Brookes University where 48 staff are facing redundancy.

Education and Training Foundation staff governors' conference, 7 December

Join us for the must-attend staff governor's online event produced by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) in conjunction with UCU, the Association of Colleges (AoC), Holex, Unison and Unite. Paul Bridge, head of further education, will be speaking at this event which sets out everything a further education staff governor needs to know. 9.30am - 12 noon, Thursday 7 December.

COP28 special: climate adaptation - operations and estate

Today COP28 has started in Dubai, UAE. This is an important time for international negotiations on climate adaptation and solutions. Find out more about what can happen at branch level in our colleges and universities. This week we are focusing on how our operations and estate need to adapt in response to the climate and ecological crisis.