Higher Education Pay Negotiations: Overview of Recent Years

Slide Note

Pay negotiations in Higher Education (HE) sector for 2020/21 were impacted by the lockdown, leading to a pay freeze. Unions submitted a pay claim for 2021/22, including demands such as pay increase, addressing pay gaps, and work-related issues. The final pay offer for 2021/22 included a total paybill increase of 1.6%, with varying scales of increase for different pay points. UNISON's response was to reject the offer.

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This presentation This presentation How is pay negotiated in HE? What happened in 2020/21? Pay negotiations 2021/22 Why ballot? Getting the vote out What next

HE Pay negotiations Pay negotiations each year New JNCHES constitution governs talks UCEA represents HE employers 5 unions: UNISON, UCU, EIS, Unite, GMB Joint union pay claim submitted each year Pay rise from 1 August each year

What happened in 2020/21 What happened in 2020/21 Lockdown March 2020 Pay negotiations delayed until July, September, October 2020 Pay freeze imposed in August 2020 No pay rise since 1 August 2019

Pay negotiation timetable Normally timetable of three pay meetings: March, April, May Implementation date: 1 August

Unions Pay Claim 2021/22 Main elements: Pay increase of 2,500 on all pay points; Minimum of 10 per hour Foundation Living Wage accreditation; Eliminate the gender, ethnic and disability pay gaps; impact of intersectionality on the pay gap; Pay spine review compression of pay points A maximum 35 hour working week for all Scottish sub-committee of JNCHES Workload and stress Precarious work and outsourcing Career development

Final pay offer 2021/22 Total paybill increase of 1.6% Increase of 1.5% for majority SCP 22 and above SCP 3 to 21 sliding scale of increases from 3.6% to 1.54% Working group on pay spine compression Working group on career development and training Work via HESH on workload and stress, impact of COVID Discuss best practice and visibility of opportunities regarding redeployment Working group on pay gaps

Final pay offer 2021/22 No offer on Scottish meetings No offer on casual and zero hours contracts and no offer outsourcing No offer on 35-hour week

UNISON response? UNISON SGE decided to reject the pay offer With inflation forecast to increase this is effectively a pay cut. Follows on from pay freeze 1.5% over 2 years ? Other unions made the same decision HE SGE decided: to consult members online consultation to recommend rejection

Low pay and minimum wages Low pay and minimum wages Pay rates against NMW and FLW 11.50 11.00 10.50 Hourly rate 35 hours 10.00 36 hours 9.50 37 hours NMW 9.00 FLW 8.50 8.00 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pay spine point 8.91 per hour (April 2021) 9.90 per hour (April 2021) NMW FLW 9.50 per hour (April 2022) 11.05 in London (April 2022)

Consultation on final offer Online consultation in May and June 2021 Members sent 3 emails to vote online Website link to vote on Result = 62% rejected final pay offer (varied turnout) SGE decided to lodge dispute Two dispute meetings July 2021 other unions joined in but no improved offer on pay SGE decided to ballot for strike action

Ballots on 2020/21 final pay offer New ballot policy for UNISON in HE decided at HE conference 2020 Disaggregate ballots i.e. a series of coordinated, local ballots Not run one single, national ballot of all HEIs in national bargaining as we have done previously Single question on taking strike action SGE asked branches which ones wanted to run ballots 48 HEIs had been balloted on this basis in July/August 2021 over pay freeze

Where are we balloting now? Where are we balloting now? And when? And when? 37 HEIs across UK (28 England, 1 NI, 8 Scotland) Full list on our website (unison.org.uk/notgoodenough) Ballots opened 6 December 2021 and close 28 January 2022. NI ballot closes 9 February 2022.

How can members get involved? Look out for their ballot papers and to post them straightaway! Talk to your colleagues about the pay offer if they re members ask them to vote New members also get a vote need to join by 17 January to be included so ask anyone new to your team to join UNISON ASAP.

Look out for ballot envelope Look out for ballot envelope This is the what the envelope will look like!

Ballot hotline Ballot hotline 0800 0 857 857 You can call this number if you haven t received your ballot paper Make sure you call it before the hotline closes Ballot hotline dates: open from 5 January to 24 January 2022 Call it your paper is lost or you didn t get a ballot paper Update membership details anytime at MyUNISON

Why should we vote for action? Why should we vote for action? This is really a pay cut 1.5% is well below the rate of inflation Inflation forecast for 5% in April 2022 Previous pay rise was 1 August 2019 2 years ago The lowest get a higher percentage but not all even get Living Wage Foundation rates No offer on key areas of pay claim HE staff work incredibly hard, many are low paid, we need a pay rise that keeps up and catches up this does neither Standing together sends strong message to universities - think again.

Campaign resources Campaign resources what can I do? do? what can I Visit our campaign webpage FAQs, resources, hotline number Download social media, email graphics, video Post our not good enough social media and email graphics Follow our social channels and share our content Check out our pay loss calculator

Share your story Share your story Post short video of saying why I m voting for action Just 10 30 seconds long Post your video on Twitter or Facebook tag @UNISONinHE and #NotGoodEnough Or simply post your written message or photo of you posting your ballot at the postbox using #NotGoodEnough

What about the other unions? What about the other unions? UCU and Unite UCU and Unite UCU balloted on the 2021/22 pay offer At 54 HEIs UCU ballots passed 50% TU Act threshold so can take strike action, 60 ASOS Action 1-3 December 2021 and more to come 60 HEIs taking action short of strike over pay from 3 December Re-ballots for 42 HEIs with turnout between 40% - 50% from 6 December to 14 January 2022 Unite might ballot a few HEIs in January 2022

What about the USS ballots? What about the USS ballots? Branches decided to ballot in 18 HEIs Only balloting members of USS as marked on RMS Same ballot period as pay ballots 6 December to 28 January USS Ballot webpage list of HEIs, social media graphics, case studies 7 branches balloting on both USS members will get 2 votes vote twice!

Key messages Remember every vote counts your vote counts Ask your colleagues to join the union to build a strong campaign Taking action at all 37 HEIs more likely to be successful Watch and share our video let s take action together to give the employers a clear message that we don t accept the pay freeze Good luck!

What happens next? What happens next? Make sure you vote in good time When ballots have closed SGE will meet to consider timetable for action and next steps All branches will be kept informed so they ll let you know Thanks for listening