Unions reject unacceptable pay offer for FE in England

This offer falls short of the pay award to school teachers, who will receive 2.5% this year, and is below the current inflation of 4.5%.

It has therefore been rejected by all FE trade unions who, writing to the employers on Friday 18 May, called for a revised offer when they next meet on 26 June.

On London Weighting employers yet again said they were not in a position to make any offer on improving allowances this year due to continuing major funding issues.  But for the first time they did offer to join the unions in joint lobbying for funds to deal with the increasing cost of living in the capital.

In addition to pay, some discussion was held on non-pay elements of the unions' claim [278kb], where there was some progress.

The employers' side offered to:

• enter negotiations on a national guideline agreement on workloads and work-life balance (although not including specified contractual hours)
• prioritise completing an agreement on training and development of all staff ready for the implementation of the new staff development arrangements which come into effect in September 2007 (which include the 30 hours compulsory continuous professional development requirements).
• conduct a survey on the use of the advanced teaching scale with a view to developing best practise guidance
• develop further work with the unions to make more progress on implementing the modernised pay scales in colleges.