The Manchester College staff ballot for strike action in two-tier workforce row
24 May 2010
On 26 May members of UCU at The Manchester College (TMC) are to be balloted for strike action in a row over worsening terms and conditions.
The country's biggest college wants to implement different contracts for staff working with adults and those working with 14-19-year-olds. The ballot will close on Friday 11 June.
The college says that because the funding streams are different the contracts must be different. However, the union says the different contracts will lead to a two-tier workforce and are unworkable as staff do not operate in separate silos and many will perform duties that could place them on either contract.
The union says it has been left with no option but to ballot for industrial action after the college refused to budge on its proposals. The union said the punitive changes will impact massively on students as well as staff. The inferior contracts demanding extra hours and loss of holiday must be factored alongside a huge rise in preparation time and extra marking for those staff.
Embarrassingly for TMC, the news comes as it was revealed that the college's management have enjoyed bumper pay rises. For more on the pay story visit: Manchester College bosses slammed over huge pay rise as staff face the axe. UCU said the need to ballot for industrial action was the latest sorry story in a long line of shoddy efforts by The Manchester College management. The union's members who are employed by The Manchester College to work in Britain's prisons are also expected to be balloted for industrial action shortly in another row about contract changes and job losses.
In January UCU accused Manchester College of throwing the prison education sector into havoc when the college announced plans for 250 job losses from its offender learning teams and a further 50 redundancies from other departments. At the end of last year the college singled out its prison education staff for a pay freeze.
In July 2009 Manchester College teaching staff at the Oakhill Secure Training centre near Milton Keynes walked out over allegations of bullying and harassment. The following month UCU members walked out at the college's main Manchester campus in protest at the sacking of 15 staff members. UCU was furious that the college targeted union activists in a round of redundancies described by the union as punishing and unnecessary.
UCU national official, Christiane Ohsan said: 'College staff perform a range of duties and teach a variety of people, they do not operate in separate silos. The disarray that will be created by this unworkable two-tier system will leave the college creaking at the seams with potential discrimination and dismissal claims and consequently unable to defend itself in the face of likely government funding cuts.'
The college says that because the funding streams are different the contracts must be different. However, the union says the different contracts will lead to a two-tier workforce and are unworkable as staff do not operate in separate silos and many will perform duties that could place them on either contract.
The union says it has been left with no option but to ballot for industrial action after the college refused to budge on its proposals. The union said the punitive changes will impact massively on students as well as staff. The inferior contracts demanding extra hours and loss of holiday must be factored alongside a huge rise in preparation time and extra marking for those staff.
Embarrassingly for TMC, the news comes as it was revealed that the college's management have enjoyed bumper pay rises. For more on the pay story visit: Manchester College bosses slammed over huge pay rise as staff face the axe. UCU said the need to ballot for industrial action was the latest sorry story in a long line of shoddy efforts by The Manchester College management. The union's members who are employed by The Manchester College to work in Britain's prisons are also expected to be balloted for industrial action shortly in another row about contract changes and job losses.
In January UCU accused Manchester College of throwing the prison education sector into havoc when the college announced plans for 250 job losses from its offender learning teams and a further 50 redundancies from other departments. At the end of last year the college singled out its prison education staff for a pay freeze.
In July 2009 Manchester College teaching staff at the Oakhill Secure Training centre near Milton Keynes walked out over allegations of bullying and harassment. The following month UCU members walked out at the college's main Manchester campus in protest at the sacking of 15 staff members. UCU was furious that the college targeted union activists in a round of redundancies described by the union as punishing and unnecessary.
UCU national official, Christiane Ohsan said: 'College staff perform a range of duties and teach a variety of people, they do not operate in separate silos. The disarray that will be created by this unworkable two-tier system will leave the college creaking at the seams with potential discrimination and dismissal claims and consequently unable to defend itself in the face of likely government funding cuts.'
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