Members Vote ‘Yes’ To Pay Offer And Send Clear Message To Colleges: ‘Implement The Deal Or Face A Wave Of Anger’.
UNISON FE members in England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Association of Colleges (AoC) pay recommendation offer for 2008/9 of:
-
-
- A 3.2% increase on all salaries and allowances from 1 October 2008, or £550 – whichever is the greater. So if a 3.2% increase gives you less than £550 you will get a £550 flat rate increase instead.
UNISON conducted a full postal ballot of every FE member in England. 90% voted in favour of the offer.
This was a vote in favour of the higher than average deal for the lowest paid with the new minimum wage of £6.91 an hour and the £550 underpinning.
The vote should send a clear message to colleges that nothing less than 100% implementation of this deal will do. Members were advised that acceptance of the offer would lead to an all-out campaign for full implementation.
Last year a large number of colleges failed to implement the underpinning for the lower paid; this will not be allowed to happen again. Already a number of colleges are preparing to ballot for strike action over the failure of their colleges to implement the 2007/8 deal.
Christina McAnea, UNISON Head of Education and Children’s Services, said:
‘Today’s ballot result is the beginning of our campaign for 100% implementation. We want to work constructively with principals and the AoC to implement the pay deal but we are clear we have an emphatic mandate from our members and if colleges refuse to pay the deal we are prepared to take action in those colleges’.
The last FE union to reach a decision on the offer is UCU who will be meeting on the 20th September. The TU side will convene there after.
END
click here for full details
