Trade dispute suspended at South Birmingham College

The union was told today that one college manager may have acted precipitously and an instruction has now been sent by senior managers that five days' notice of observations must be given to all staff. The union had expressed its concerns, both verbally and in writing, that unannounced observations would constitute a change of conditions of service and leave the College breaching its own guidelines.

UCU regional official, Nick Varney, said: 'There is a growing issue across the further education sector about observation, performance and monitoring in colleges. Principals obsessed with trying to improve the rating of their college have to understand that they will not achieve that through adding extra pressure on already overworked and underpaid staff.

'We are delighted that the College has cleared up the confusion that led to last week's trade dispute and we have suspended the dispute today.'