2023 National Higher Education Conference

Labour vows to work with HE unions ‘as partners, not adversaries’

Labour’s shadow minister for higher education Matt Western has accused government ministers of “collective amnesia” regarding the work of the “dedicated, compassionate people working in Britain’s universities.”

Mr Western was speaking at UNISON’s national higher education conference, in Newcastle, where he told delegates: “The pandemic reminded those that needed reminding that society and institutions cannot function without those working in important services and support roles.

“People such as yourselves and those you represent keep the proverbial show on the road, keep the lights on, the doors open and the rooms ready so that young people can access education.”

The MP for Warwick and Leamington said that his parents – his mother a school assistant, father a primary teacher – had instilled in him “their principles of fair reward, of the value of public service and believing in education as a tool for social justice”, principles he was determined to bring to bear on a Labour government.

In the meantime, continuing to criticise the current government, he noted that in 2022 there were 16 education ministers across both Houses of Parliament, and no fewer than nine held responsibilities for higher education.

“Higher education, in particular, has too often been viewed more as a political battleground than a force for public good. Higher education’s potential to reduce inequality, drive economic growth, and support regional development has been side-lined in favour of culture wars.

“I can hardly believe my ears when ministers make bold statements on how much they seemingly care about education. They have had almost 13 years to harness the power of education, but instead they have presided over a decade of underfunding of every part of the education sector, a period of growing inequalities, and sought to introduce measures to restrict access to university… I fear that the government’s policy is closing the door on many people’s dreams of a university education.”

Addressing the experience of the hall directly, he said: “Clearly, ministers’ total lack of interest has also impacted on you and your colleagues. The sector is under far greater financial strain than it was 30 years ago, it is expected to do more with less and has, at times, been asked to do the impossible.

“If your pay has failed to match inflation for the past 14 years, your collective frustration should come as no surprise to your employers. [Your] goodwill and values of public service only stretch so far. They do not pay the bills, and they do not put food on the table.”

Mr Western acknowledged that, were Labour to win power in 2024 or early 2025, the Tories’ “reckless” handling of the economy would leave huge challenges and no quick fixes.

However, “the mess we will inherit should we enter government should not dent our ambition for long-lasting reform, guided by a belief in education as a force for shaping the citizens of the future.

“I am committed to working with you, other education unions, and sector bodies as partners, not adversaries. These relationships will prove to be the building blocks for meaningful change.

“From there we can go about finally introducing Lifelong Learning entitlements, reforming the skills landscape, preparing our young people for the green economy of 2030, and equipping them with the skills they need to be ready for work, ready for life.”

The article Labour vows to work with HE unions ‘as partners, not adversaries’ first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UK’s model for funding higher education is a ‘broken system’

UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards opened the national higher education conference yesterday with a damning critique of the government’s approach towards university education, and of ministers who are out of touch with the crisis affecting so many of the country’s population.

“We meet at yet another really difficult time in higher education,” Mr Richards, who was once the union’s head of education, told delegates. “We’ve had a continued funding crisis for years, but it’s becoming particularly acute. The funding models across the UK seem to be broken.

“The English model of fees, particularly, is causing huge problems for both students and universities, forcing the former into massive debts and leaving the universities with massive budget problems.

“The government has its favourite sort of privatisation, of using fees, but then it holds them at £9,000 and won’t fill the gap with funding, making it ever harder for universities to deliver the services that they think they need to do.

“But it’s not just an England problem, because of limited government funding across the whole of the UK.”

The effect was a “de facto” cap on home student numbers, while “this xenophobic government has trashed our reputation in Europe” leading to big drops in overseas students, which was once a guaranteed source of university income.

At the same time, Mr Richards said, the chancellor was repeating mistakes of a decade ago to create “austerity mark 2”, which was fuelling the cost of living crisis.

On the crisis, he noted the number of prime ministers and others from “the leading echelons of public society” who had attended Oxford University, via public schools.

“And the problem is, we have a cost of living crisis which they don’t understand, because they never had to face it. Not all of them, but the vast majority of politicians have never been through something like this. Few of them know what it’s like to go to a food bank, few of them know what it’s like to make a choice between heating or eating.

“And that’s why their focus is on tax cuts and not an improvement on benefits, and not an improvement on the vital public services which you and others we represent deliver.”

UNISON’s cost of living campaign was making it clear that “poverty is a government choice”, while also linking the impact of low pay on services, he said.

“We’ve reinforced in the public’s mind that unions are an intrinsic part of the workforce defending our public services. Attempts by the government in the past few months to portray us as ‘nasty unions’ have flopped badly.”

Mr Richards saw other positives, including the way that UNISON had been learning from its industrial action ballots, and the strikes themselves, to adapt its strategies moving forward – for example, when to employ shorter or targeted strikes, or action short of strike, and when to re-ballot, or not. The union was also improving engagement with its members.

Finally, Mr Richards welcomed the union’s growing membership in recent months, including over 1,200 members in higher education last year.

“It’s not all down to the strike, nonetheless it’s activity which is making people interested in us, because we’ve been in the public battle. So, this is a testament to the work you’ve done. You’re the backbone of our union. Our collective strength sits in this hall.”

The article UK’s model for funding higher education is a ‘broken system’ first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Universities need to ‘redouble their efforts’ to support disabled staff

Higher education delegates in Newcastle voted yesterday to build on the success of UNISON’s Year of Disabled Workers 2022, and continue to work to improve the experience of disabled members.

Sanchia Alasia of the national disabled members’ committee proposed a motion aimed at “securing the legacy” of the campaign’s achievements, “because disabled staff still face discrimination in our universities.”

The union used the Year of Disabled Workers to highlight the important contribution disabled members make to the union, to improve terms and conditions for disabled workers, including in higher education, and to campaign for improved rights for all disabled workers.

Ms Alasia told delegates: “We know that employers need to do more to address the barriers that disabled staff face, in being appointed into more senior level positions in our workplaces. They need to redouble their efforts to eliminate the different outcomes for staff by addressing these imbalances, robustly and sustainably.

“The majority of disabled staff in universities are concentrated in the lower grades in our workplaces. Even when they do progress, they reach a plateau and do not progress at the same rate as their non-disabled counterparts.

“We also need workplaces to investigate further the starting salaries of new staff who are appointed, to see whether there is a disparity between the salaries of disabled and non-disabled staff.”

The motion notes that it will take more than one year to tackle the “systemic and ingrained discrimination” against disabled people. It calls on the service group executive to work with the national disabled members’ committee to:

carry out an audit of HE branches that will assess:
- where there is no agreed reasonable adjustment passport or policy
- where there is no agreed paid disability leave policy
- where there is no elected disabled members’ officer
implement a disability equality bargaining strategy, for the service group to address any such policy gaps;
publicise UNISON’s new online training for disabled members officers and contacts;
circulate the union’s new stewards guide to representing disabled members and guide to representing deaf members (British Sign language users) to activists in HE branches and workplaces.

While being urged to build on the work of one campaign, delegates were also urged to focus on a new one, UNISON’s Year of Black Workers 2023, which was launched last week.

“It’s really important that branches get engaged with this, and that you come up with your own initiatives,” assistant general secretary Jon Richards said.

“We want to improve the workplace for Black members, and we want to encourage new members to join and build a new cadre of activists – so we can better tackle workplace racism and ensure our Black members are fully supported in the workplace. So this is a really crucial year for us.”

The article Universities need to ‘redouble their efforts’ to support disabled staff first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Higher education conference debates ongoing pay dispute

UNISON’s higher education activists met in Newcastle yesterday, for their first in-person conference since the onset of the pandemic. With workers experiencing “the worst cost of living crisis in 30 years”, pay was at the heart of their debates.

Since 2009, pay for higher education (HE) staff has lost around 28% of its value, as a result of below inflation rises year on year. Soaring inflation in 2022 brought this situation to crisis point, leaving members in HE facing real hardship.

The union remains in dispute over 2022/23 pay, after the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) imposed a 3% pay increase – a real terms pay cut – in August. Industrial action took place across 19 universities last year, with some branches continuing to take action this month, in a bid for a pay rise that keeps up with inflation.

In the meantime, having called for an earlier than usual start to the 2023/24 pay round, the UCEA has again disappointed, with an offer last week that falls far short of the HE unions’ claim for £4,000 or RPI + 2%, whichever is greater.

UNISON members are currently being consulted on that offer, with the SGE recommending they reject what is another real terms pay cut.

Mobina Begum, chair of the higher education service group executive, updated delegates on recent developments, before introducing a motion that states the union’s pay demands for 2023/24.

“Our work is not being valued by our employers,” she said. “We helped keep universities running during the pandemic, and continue to do so, but have been rewarded with falling real terms pay.

“With the cost of living crisis, and greatly increased bills, members simply can’t afford to live on the money that the employers impose. Our members are using food banks. Our students are feeling the effect of the burn-out and the frustration of staff in higher education.

“We need to restore the buying power of wages in higher education. We dedicate so much of ourselves to our institutions, but are not appreciated.”

Ms Begum noted the increasing numbers of UNISON members prepared to take strike action over pay. And she added: “We will continue to fight for fair pay and conditions in higher education. We will continue to fight for an end to poverty pay in higher education. We will continue to fight for the respect we deserve.

“The situation cannot go on unchallenged. We’re not afraid of taking action. We will go out on strike when we need to. We know that our collective power has strength.”

Delegates approved the motion, which includes the demands for 2023/24 for:

Reform of the pay spine to achieve a minimum spinal column point of £15 per hour;
Agreement that all higher education institutions (HEIs) become Foundation Living Wage employers, extended to all staff on campus;
Agreement with the HE employers to oversee the introduction of a maximum 35-hour working week in all HEIs;
Joint union and employer action to eliminate the gender and ethnicity pay gaps;
A national agreement to reduce precarious employment in the sector – seeking, as far as possible, for all staff to be employed on permanent contracts;
A national agreement to bring outsourced workers in HE back into direct university employment;
A national agreement on hybrid/flexible working.

In the event that the pay claim is not met by the employers, the service group executive is charged with escalating the pay campaign, with a clear plan that may include industrial action.

Delegates heard several times during the day how HE branches had increased membership during the pay dispute, particularly those taking strike action.

Jenny McHale of Leeds University branch, one of those continuing to strike this month, said: “Our branch has grown our membership in the last 12 months, due to the feeling of anger and frustration that members feel at the lack of understanding and empathy from university bosses.”

Ms McHale also raised the issue of one-off payments that some universities are paying staff in acknowledgment of the additional costs incurred due to increased working from home since the pandemic. Though welcome, she said, too many were not receiving this money.

She proposed a motion with the aim of ensuring that “all staff, no matter what grade they are, or which university they work at, receive this payment, in addition to the pay rise that we all deserve.”

The motion calls on the service group executive to meet with the employer as early as possible, outside the normal pay negotiation cycle, with a view to negotiating a one-off, non-consolidated payment to all staff to mitigate the extra financial impact of working from home.

Iz McAuliffe of Cymru/Wales proposed a motion making the real living wage the minimum requirement for pay agreements.

But she also reflected the sad state of affairs for all low-paid workers in the UK when she told delegates: “Organisations promote themselves as real living wage employers as if it was a badge of honour, when it is actually calculated as the rate which allows people to live – not to thrive, or prosper.”

The article Higher education conference debates ongoing pay dispute first appeared on the UNISON National site.