A new union was born at the beginning of Juneand within days it had struck a dodgy deal with the employers. The Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) was brought into being by a merger between the AUT & NATFHE. ROGER WELCH reports. THE MERGER was itself marked by a march of several thousand UCU members and students through central London to the headquarters of the university employers in support of the lecturers pay claim.
This march followed on from a resolution unanimously adopted at NATHE's last ever conference, held over the bank holiday weekend, that the action will be continued, and if need-be escalated, for as long as it takes to ensure our just claim is met.
Our industrial action in the form of an assessment boycott had held firm despite threats in a number of institutions to dock pay by varying amounts up to and including 100%.
In fact, to date, where employers have threatened pay dockings they have generally chimbea down in te race of strong resistance from their staff, making it clear that the response to this attempt at intimidation will be all out strike action.
This has happened at Northumbria University and at Oxford Brookes. As we chanted on the demonstration: "VCs hear us - shout: dock our pay and we'll walk out."
The ineptitude of the employers' handling of the dispute is encapsulated by the reprimand their chief negotiators received from the House of Commons Select Committee on Education for wrongly claiming to the media that the Select Committee supported their pend the industrial action and ballot their members on acceptance of their offer (this was the last offer of 12.6%).
You know industrial action is beginning to bite when the media starts attacking workers for taking it. Over the years our previous industrial actions nave generally been in the form of one-day strikes which have been ignored in the national media.
All trade unionists also know that industrial action is only effective if it hurts someone.
In the current dispute it is obviously our students who are affected by not getting their marks. Inevitably, this has led to press attacks and focus on pockets of student protests blaming lecturers for their situation.
It was therefore really good to see a number of students on our march demonstrating solidarity with our claim.
In the words of NUS President, Kat Fletcher, who spoke at the rally, students do not only want us to win, they need us to win for the sake of their education. It's a simple message: it's about time the employers got it.
However, since this highly successful and determined rally the union leadership has decided to suspend our industrial action and ballot the members on a so-called 'improved' pay offer, increased by just
LEGU 0.5% from 12.6% to 13.1%. This is over 3 years with the offer in the 3rd year amounting only to 2.5%, but with a vague offer of a pay review attached.
Essentially this is no different to the offer that the employers made several days prior to the rally, and it is difficult to see how it has suddenly become acceptable - though the employers have had to agree to return any monies docked to date.
The whole basis of our claim for 23% over 3 years is that we have been demanding a significant increase in pay over and above cost of living increases
msu to begin to compensate for the erosion of our pay in real terms that has occurred over many years.
Clearly, the employers offer goes nowhere near to doing this. It is the case that without our action even this offer would not never have been made.
However, the determination of the membership has been undermined by the sudden decision to call off the action.
It remains to be seen whether it will be possible to mount a campaign within the union for a rejection of the offer in the ballot which will now be held.