Respect FE update: online event, Thursday 4-5pm, and how to order a replacement ballot

Colleges ended the 2020-21 teaching year with a grand total of £390m more cash than they started it with. This was the biggest increase in cash the sector has seen in years. Employers massively increased their spending on buildings and other capital expenditure, but spending on staff hardly went up at all.

This year I know that thousands of UCU members are determined to stop employers doing that again. Now is the time to make sure the money that's available goes to you and your colleagues. 

Not got your voting papers? Order a replacement today 

If you still haven't received your ballot papers, you can order a replacement to your preferred address at this link.

The AoC's current proposal is to recommend that employers offer a 2.5% pay rise plus a one-off payment of £500. With inflation as high as it is, that is a severe real terms pay cut. To make your employer offer more, you will almost certainly need to vote in these ballots and potentially take industrial action - like other UCU branches that have already forced vastly superior offers from their employers this year. 

Join UCU vice president Maxine Looby for Thursday's campaign event 

You can see UCU's vice president and lead elected negotiator, Maxine Looby, respond to the AoC proposals in this video.

As mentioned in last week's Friday email, there will be an online Respect FE campaign event with Maxine and other speakers to discuss the ballots and getting the vote out at 4-5pm this Thursday, 30 June.

The event will take place via Zoom and you can join it by simply using this link.

We've had fantastic attendance for recent UCU campaign meetings and we hope to see lots of members there again on Thursday. 

In solidarity, 

Jo Grady 
UCU general secretary