Respect FE: vote now in the UCU e-ballot

Your union is currently consulting members in further education whose employer is part of the Association of Colleges (AoC) to gauge the appetite for a national strike action ballot over pay, workload and binding national bargaining and I'm writing to urge you, if you have not done so already, to vote in the Respect FE e-ballot.

Like you I understand the value of further education (FE) and the crucial role that college staff play in supporting learners of all ages and backgrounds to reach their potential. But for too long FE pay has stagnated and fallen behind fellow educators in schools. Meanwhile workloads continue to soar and too often college employers fail to treat staff as skilled and experienced professionals.

Enough is enough. We urgently need to secure a decent pay rise, agreements on workload and a new approach to national negotiations with the employers.

Please vote now and support your union's campaign for a better deal for college staff. Voting closes on Friday 24 March and the result will be considered by a special FE sector conference on 1 April where branch reps will decide whether to proceed to a national aggregated ballot for strike action.

In solidarity

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary