In March the college formally notified UCU and the other unions of their intention to make staff redundant and to introduce a number of significant changes to pay and conditions. UCU immediately rejected these proposals and conducted an industrial action ballot which resulted in an 88% vote for strike action. Members took action on May 10th (as part of the national pensions campaign) and May 29th. During the subsequent meetings a number of proposals have been put forward. On June 23rd the college submitted their formal final offer to the unions as outlined in Trevor Clay’s Letter .
What follows is a brief outline of the various proposals that have been put forward by the college and what has subsequently happened to those proposals following action by UCU members and representation by your negotiators
College Proposals:
Redundancies:
The college sought to introduce redundancies across the college, initially suggesting a reduction of 10% in teaching staff. During the process the college identified overstaffing in the majority of directorates. They announced that they would seek Voluntary Redundancies but that they would need to make Compulsory Redundancies if overstaffing was not met. By the time of the closing of the VR period the college identified 9.9 FTE teaching staff as still being at risk of redundancy.
The threat of compulsory redundancies has been withdrawn.
Reduction in Hourly Paid rates of pay.
The college proposed reducing the rates of pay for hourly paid lecturers in September 2012 to:
Unqual: £13.13
Part Qual 17.03
Qualified £21.56
Following lengthy negotiations the current proposals have proposed rates of pay for HPLs for September 2012 of with a further staged reduction in September 2013.
Sept 2012 Sept 2013
Unqual £14.86 Unqual £14.42
Part Qual £19.28 Part Qual £ 18.72
Full Qual £24.41 Full Qual £23.70
These rates do not represent a complete withdrawal of pay cut for HPLs, however rates have moved substantially from the position before UCU took action. Figures from UCU on comparable rates of Hourly Pay from other colleges in the East midlands region show that even with the cuts, the rates of pay at Chesterfield College remain higher than at many other colleges.
Removal of Learning Support lecturers from teaching contracts:
The college proposed to remove Hourly Paid Lecturers delivering learning support from teaching contracts and place them onto support staff contracts. This would have led to a 70% reduction in the hourly rate of pay for many of these staff.
This proposal has been withdrawn.
Bar on progression on salary scale:
The college made various proposals on placing a bar on the salary scale at point 32 for all lecturers, including only allowing progression for those getting a 1 or 2 in observations and taking on a junior management responsibility. They have also proposed putting a bar on the salary scale at point 22 for new unqualified lecturers.
All proposals to put a bar on the salary scale for qualified lecturers have been withdrawn.
1% pay cut for all staff above sale point 18.
During the negotiations management tabled a proposals to introduce a 1% across the board reduction for all staff above point 18 on the salary scale. This would have impacted on the vast majority of teaching staff.
This proposals has been withdrawn.
2 year pay freeze:
The college required that all of the unions sign up to a two year pay freeze as part of signing any agreement.
This requirement has been withdrawn.
Additional point: During the negotiation the college also put forward a proposal for an extra “directed day” holiday per year.
UCU members at Chesterfield College are being balloted on the final offer made to the trade unions by the College. Members will be asked to vote on whether they accept or reject the latest proposals.
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