FE pay claim and local merger

Branch rep at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College (GBMET – Northbrook) Karen Fisher reports.

“The latest meeting with the Association of Colleges (AoC – representing employers and who decide pay, terms and conditions), discussed the latest joint union pay claim for academic year 2018/19. Unexpectedly, the AoC agreed with us to award a pay increase of 5%.

“Once we had picked ourselves up off of the floor the ‘on condition’ came in. The AoC requested we join them in lobbying the government for additional funding so we could be paid an additional 5% over two years. No other offer was made.

“Representatives from all unions stressed this was totally unacceptable.

“As a comparison, would I pay the guy currently working on my kitchen the rate I paid 10 years ago, not the current going rate? And if he wanted more he should accompany me to my employer and help me get a pay rise. This is effectively what the AoC are asking the unions to do.

“The college union UCU has already made plans for industrial action ballots. For now, FE college staff remain the poor relation in the public sector.

“Also, GBMET recently lost out in a bid to Chichester College to merge with Worthing College. Great news for Chichester College, but it could mean problems for the Northbrook side of GBMET. Watch this space.”