We all know the well rehearsed arguments: in the face of declining student numbers, political uncertainty, Brexit and the unknown future of tuition income, universities say it is inevitable that jobs must be lost. And through 2019 we saw one after the other HE institute introduce voluntary severance schemes, reorganisations and redundancies, reductions in hours […]
Conference motions
Conference, clearly it is in none of our interests that we conduct a ballot we potentially lose by a long margin if we do not have the pulse of the membership before we move to an industrial action ballot. That will only serve the interests of those who want us to lose the ballot weakening […]
Conference Notes: 1)The far-right are attempting to take their message of racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism onto university and college campuses. 2)The far-right group ‘Generation Identity’ have appeared on over 20 campuses, holding stunts and meetings. 3)Turning Point UK, a group with links to the alt-right in the US, have attempted to set up student societies […]
A Government consultation took place between May and July 2019 on changes to reform the Local Government Pension Scheme in England. The proposed changes would give higher education institutions, further education colleges and sixth form colleges the flexibility to not have to offer the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to new staff. UNISON’s HESGE led […]
2019 marks ten years of the erosion in real terms, take home pay, the pay of the majority of Higher Education support staff. If pay had risen in line with the cost of living, then each pound that university support staff earn in 2019/20, would be worth twenty one pence more than it actually is. […]
Conference notes that although the report of the Review of Post 18 Education and Funding in England falls far short of UNISON’s policies on the future of Higher Education (HE) it cannot be ignored. Even in a period of political uncertainty and ministerial changes in government, its analysis and recommendations are likely to continue to […]