The crisis in education

  • £518 million cut from university budgets.
  • Thousands of jobs at risk.
  • Pay falling behind the rate of inflation.

At a time of economic recession, education is more important than ever:
  • Other countries around the world recognise this and are investing in education.
  • Reject short-term slash and burn strategies.
  • Support the campaign for a national agreement to protect jobs.
  • Demand fair treatment and fair pay for all university staff.

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Last scheduled negotiations sees no movement on key issues

At the final meeting of the union/employer national negotiating forum, held on 28 July, the university employers’ association, UCEA, continued to refuse national level talks to develop jointly-agreed proposals to improve job security. With fears that over 22,000 jobs are at risk, this refusal is unacceptable and irresponsible.

The employers’ final offer to the joint unions was [...]

No progress in national talks between unions and university employers

The higher education unions – the University and College Union (UCU), EIS, GMB, UNISON and Unite – today (Monday) issued the following joint statement:

‘At the new JNCHES meeting held on Monday 19 April, UCEA failed to improve on their previous offer of a sum equivalent to 0.25% (non-consolidated). They also failed to respond to other [...]

New campaign materials

We’ve now produced a new set of Defend Higher Education materials in our campaign to get a national agreement with the employers that commits universities to defending jobs, protecting the value of our pay and providing greater security for the most vulnerable workers in our sector.

This includes :

Defend Higher Education poster

Defend Higher Education leaflet

Defend Higher Education petition

Defend Higher Education: [...]

National claim submitted

The five unions have submitted their joint national claim for 2010 to the University and College Employers’ Association (UCEA). The next meeting of the Joint National Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) is Monday 29 March.

In brief the claim calls for:

a catch-up for the real terms cut last year; a keep-up element for next; [...]

Unions make proposals on HE job security

A document, supported by UCU, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS, has been tabled to the employers which sets out national standards for institutions to follow where redundancies are proposed. It would mean universities working in genuine partnership with unions to seriously explore all avenues in order to avoid redundancies and protect provision for students.

Members can [...]