Update 17th April: Boycott postponed
"The Universities and Colleges' Employers Association (UCEA) has offered a 2% pay increase for UK higher education staff at the latest round of negotiations. This offer for 2014/15 will now be put to members of UCU in a consultative ballot.
The 2% offer was made at a meeting between the education unions and the employer body on Tuesday (15 April). UCU's higher education committee met today to consider the proposal and has agreed to ballot members on the offer. The ballot will conclude on Thursday, 1 May, and the committee will consider the results at a meeting on Friday, 2 May.
In light of this development, UCU has agreed to postpone the start of the planned marking boycott until Tuesday, 6 May so that the members' decision on the new offer can be fully considered. The boycott, which was originally scheduled to start on Monday, 28 April, is planned as part of the ongoing pay dispute following last year's pay offer of 1%.
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Following this offer, UCU has decided to ballot members on their views. It is only right that they make the ultimate decision about what happens next.'”
We are continually in communication with the university and Trade Unions and will provide further updates as they become available. If you have any concerns then please contact: vpcommwelfare@uwe.ac.uk during the Easter period.
UWE Students' Union are continuing to monitor the situation carefully, and will act once further information regarding the potential assessment boycott is received from UWE or UCU. If you have any concerns then please contact: vpcommwelfare@uwe.ac.uk during the Easter period.
Following on from the recent strike action that has taken place in universities across the country relating to a dispute over pay, UCU , the main academic trade union, have announced an intention to start an assessment boycott from 28 April 2014.
The University is currently working through the implications of an assessment boycott to try and ensure the least possible disruption for all students.
UWE and UWESU advises you to ensure that you attend all exams and submit all assessments, as timings of these will not be affected by the boycott. For teaching that is still ongoing there may be some disruption as a result of the action.
Notifications of any changes will be posted on the appropriate Blackboard site.
It should be noted that a final decision on whether an assessment boycott is to take place may not be known until very near to the date at which the action is due to start.
Further details will be posted on UWE website so please check regularly for updates.
Information Points across the University will also be able to provide you with updates.
The staff trade unions have been offered 2 per cent on all pay spine points with effect from August 2014. There was also a proposal to increase the lowest point of the pay spine to be increased by an additional £30 - the equivalent of the living wage in those institutions with a 35 hour week. NUS and students' unions have long campaigned with trade unions for a living wage in universities across the UK.
Talks took place yesterday between the University and College Employers Association (UCEA) and higher education trade unions, which constituted the last negotiation before UCU’s proposed marking boycott, which was due to begin on Monday 28 April if an agreement had not been reached.
In response to the latest offer, UCU has decided to ballot its members on the new offer from the employers association and to delay the commencement date of a possible marking boycott to 6 May 2014.
The pay dispute erupted last year after employers’ offered higher education staff a pay rise of just 1 per cent, which unions have pointed out would mean academics will have suffered a real terms pay cut of 13 per cent since 2009.
NUS has consistently supported the unions' case for fair pay in higher education. The union had called on university vice chancellors to act to resolve the dispute by offering a fair and sustainable pay deal before students were even further negatively impacted by industrial action.
Last year, a joint NUS and Unison report exposed the fact that more than half (57 per cent) of all universities failed to pay a living wage, and came together to campaign for a living wage in all colleges and universities in the UK.
Toni Pearce, NUS President, said:
"This latest news is a vindication of the joint campaigning of students' unions and trade unions up and down the country for fair pay in higher education.
“These new developments are very welcome as the stakes on this issue are incredibly high. This news will provide some relief to students who are understandably very concerned at the prospect of further disruption.
"We understand and respect UCU’s decision to ballot its members, and we will be keeping a close eye on the outcome.
“NUS firmly believes that higher education is a partnership between teachers and students and that fairly paid, and well-motivated staff, are essential for a high quality student experience. We have consistently supported the case for fair pay in higher education, and particularly for the lowest paid.
“A living wage in higher education would be a truly monumental development. It is a huge credit to the campaigning work of trade unions and students’ unions not just over the past few months, but over many years. “