The fun never stops in FE!

Below is the text of an email sent out earlier this week to many FE branches in England  – you lucky, lucky people in Scotland and Wales are well out of this particular fiasco. Not all the signatories are (can you be a member of a faction lite?) aligned with UCUD but we all stand together in the face of some ‘challenging’ decisions made by the FEC. 

UCULeft dominates the FEC at the moment and the strategies outlined by Adam Ozanne and John Kelly in this document  The Trotskyist Politics of ucu Left  are on full display in some of the recent decisions taken by the FEC. 

We have fought this battle before; national bargaining would be brilliant but striking to that end is impractical and in all probability illegal!

Have a read and then for the love of God vote in these elections – Feb 2024!

• Text of the email
• Motion
• What Happened at the SFEC

Text of Email

We are writing to you as current members of UCU’s UK Further Education Committee (FEC), as FE candidates in the current National Executive Committee (NEC) elections, as activists and reps. We need your help to win. 

The issue we face is not about personalities or political purity, is not about fine words and fancy speeches, the motion we ask you to pass  is about the application of common sense – what is trade unionism if it is not about practical and common-sense ways to improve our working conditions? We need a way forward that will work and not just appeal to our need to do ‘something’.  We need strategy and focus and crucially we need to be clever to win. But most of all this is about logical arguments. 

Background  

At the FEC meeting last Friday, 2 February, it was decided by the UCU Left (UCUL) majority to move to a national aggregated ballot in England before the summer break and to commence strike action in September over three demands (pay, workload and binding national bargaining).  

UCUL FEC members ignored advice from senior officials as to legal risks involved, failed to consider branch exclusion criteria, and dismissed a comprehensive committee report laying out a clear and coherent FE strategy. A detailed summary of the issues described is attached.

Consequences

There are potential serious consequences to these FEC decisions, branches with low membership, low capacity, and low support for strike action will all be balloted. UCU will be forced to disclose low membership density and low support for the strike to those employers. This will set back UCU organising efforts in FE and damage UCU’s leverage and power in the FE sector.  

These FEC decisions go directly against decisions taken, by you, at the Special FE Sector Conference (SFESC) in April 2023, which had the biggest ever spread of FE delegates. It was agreed that members and branches must be consulted before a move to an aggregate ballot, and to maintain the maximum degree of branch autonomy in national campaigns. 

We now urgently need a fresh SFESC, as soon as possible, to review the decisions made at FEC and to debate and agree a strategy for FE. And for that we will need your support. 

Call to action: 

The arguments are clear. In UCU we employ experts, people with legal knowledge and years of practical experience. Their advice is clear: listen to it. UCUleft too often rush in with passion and rhetoric and this results in confusion and setbacks. We want to win.  

Help us win by holding a quorate branch meeting of your members ASAP with a view to requisitioning a special sector conference. This is our sector and we do not want a small group taking our members into something they are not ready for. 

We attach a model branch motion to be discussed and hopefully passed at the meeting. Do get in touch if you want us to come and address the meeting and use the detailed report attached as needed. 

Once we have 20 FE branches officially requisitioning a Special FE sector conference, it will be scheduled, and we can debate these key issues together. 

This means that the branch meeting needs to be held by Thu 29^th February at the latest. 

As outlined in the report to FEC, the UCU demand for binding national bargaining is one which will take several years to achieve. It will require much greater levels of support from members and branches, targeted organising work, building upon the success of the Respect FE campaign model used for the past few years. 

We are not giving up on national bargaining – far from it. The motion is simply asking for time to build for success. We want to win an aggregate ballot, not rush into one which will undermine our ability to achieve meaningful sectoral bargaining. Help us to win. 

Helen Kelsall – UCU FEC

Chair Trafford and Stockport College Group

• I’ve only included my name as I haven’t had to time to check with others

This is the motion we are asking branches to pass

Requisition of an online Special FESC

This branch notes:

1. The willingness of members to fight on pay, workloads, and national bargaining.

2. The success of the Respect FE strategy coordinating branches in dispute.

3. This branch’s willingness to campaign and take action in support of national and local demands.

4. The new FEC strategy of ‘levelling up the sector’ and move to a national aggregate ballot.

5. The lack of debate of, detail and branch involvement in, that strategy.

This branch believes:

1. Branches are essential to the proper functioning of UCU democracy and decision making.

2. Strategy should be debated and democratically agreed by branches.

3. A Special FESC is needed as soon as possible.

This branch resolves:

To requisition a Special FESC under rule 16.11, online, to debate FEC’s ‘levelling up the

sector’ strategy and decide next steps, including whether to move to an aggregate ballot.

143 words

We also provided this document to give additional information:

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE SPECIAL FEC MEETING FRIDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2024

Motion and amendments from UCU Left faction carried – national aggregated ballot before the summer break and strike action in September over three demands (Pay, workload and binding national bargaining). 

Legal Advice Ignored

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) ignored advice from senior lay officers and officials as to legal risks involved:

• UCU has not organised an aggregate ballot on national binding negotiating agreement before. 
• Initial advice is it will be illegal to have an aggregate ballot on what FEC wants.
• Can’t have a dispute with AoC, DfE or UK government. 
• Disputes must be with each employer. 
• Need specific advice on grounds of dispute.
• Open to challenge by employers saying we’ve met some of your demands.
• If get it wrong the whole ballot is in danger.

Plans are Unclear

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) did not confirm branch exclusion criteria. 

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) did not confirm any way to test support for an aggregate ballot with members before calling it despite 2023 special FE sector conference (SFESC) policy:

Motion 3 resolved a consultation of members before moving to an aggregate ballot.

Motion 4 resolved a consultation of branches and members before moving away from Respect FE.

Motion 5 resolved no aggregated ballot until the above campaign has been given sufficient time and resources to achieve its aim, a minimum of at least 1 year and this decision has been put to a sector conference.

Motion 7 resolved the maximum degree of branch autonomy in national campaigns. 

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) did not agree to call a SFESC in 2024 to debate and agree the new strategy. 

Advice from Head of FE Ignored

In his report, the Head of FE recommended to FEC they call a Special FESC in April 2024 to debate either a New Deal for FE or levelling up the Sector. By majority the FEC voted against calling a SFESC to debate either strategy. This runs counter to Special FESC policy from April 2023. 

UCU Head of FE recommendations (except 4) fell. Recommendations in Head of FE report is a summary of a larger strategy document which builds on existing Respect FE campaign, policy, feedback from branches, and the recent FE reps survey. Key themes from FE reps survey were:

1. Reps consider it very important UCU builds branch capacity, recruitment, and density.
2. Regarding the prioritisation of the three-core industrial and campaign demands, reps prioritized: 

2. Workload 
3. Pay 
4. National Bargaining 
5. Regarding how close the union is to winning on the core demands, it’s an even split, with only a minority of reps saying we near securing the demands. 
6. There is very strong support for branch autonomy and the capacity to make local deals.
7. On the question of how members (in the coming pay round) are likely to react to pay offers similar to this year, 60% say their members will accept. 
8. Regarding confidence levels of winning an aggregate ballot on national bargaining, it’s split with no clear majority either way.  

The Head of FE reported that analysis from branch feedback, the reps survey and the two sector conferences in 2023 indicate approximately 40 branches want to move to an aggregate ballot at this time. There are approx. 220 colleges in England and 150 members of the AoC. 32 branches were successful in beating the 50% ballot threshold in autumn 2023. There is no critical mass of branches at this time. 

IMPACT

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) decided on a major change to the strategy (aggregate ballot, no exclusions, no consultation with members) against advice from senior lay officers, officials; previous policy; and FE reps survey feedback. 

FEC majority (UCU Left faction) changed the campaign name from the well-known ‘Respect FE” to the slogan-heavy ‘levelling up the sector: leave no one behind’.

If implemented, this new untested strategy, would prevent FE branches from negotiating and settling pay and conditions deals locally with their employers in 2024/25. All branches would be forced into a single national dispute with no exit strategy set out. The FEC would then decide on the running of the dispute and settlement instead of branches and members contrary to policy. This is a top-down approach instead of a member-led approach. 

There has been no branch involvement in the decision to call for a new strategy and aggregate ballot in 2024. There has been a complete lack of debate and a lack of detail on the new strategy. 

Branches with low membership, low capacity, and low support for strike action will still be balloted, with UCU forced to disclose low membership density and low support for the strike to those employers. This will set back UCU organising efforts in FE and damage UCU’s leverage and power in the FE sector. 

UCU would have lost a national aggregate ballot in 2023 based on recent ballot figures for the 2023/24 campaign, despite more central union resourcing than ever before dedicated to it. 

Including all branches in a 2024 national aggregate ballot, and not running any consultation with members, makes it even more likely UCU would lose this aggregate ballot and set back the progress made by UCU. 

KEEP CURRENT STRATEGY

The UCU demand for binding national bargaining is one which will take several years to achieve for the reasons set out in the Head of FE strategy document. It will require much greater levels of support from members and branches, targeted organising work, building upon the success of the respect FE campaign model used for the past few years. It will also require a flexible approach, in line with policy, to enable branches to continue to negotiate and deliver deals for their members locally in the meantime.

The Respect FE campaign has worked and gets stronger and larger every year. Members are willing to campaign, and take action on pay, workloads and national bargaining based on national and local demands. The alternative is not giving up on national bargaining, it is simply asking for time to build to make it successful. We want to win an aggregate ballot when we hold one, not just posture about it in a way that will undermine our ability to achieve it. 

HEAD OF FE STRATEGY DOCUMENT SUMMARY

1. This paper sets out the basis for a New Deal for FE. The New Deal brings together an industrial, political, organising and comms strategy, it builds on the experiences of Respect FE and the many local successful campaigns in the past few years. 
2. The New Deal has branches at its heart and is built on developing a joined-up strategy that will take the union forward to maximise the opportunities for winning an aggregate ballot over the next two years. The aim is to put UCU into a position where we are confident that there is a high prospect of success and fundamental change.
3. 
   Politically, the current divisive UK government has run out of ideas and the mood in the country is one of change. Labour has the most realistic prospect of winning a House of Commons majority and securing our campaign objectives of a New Deal for FE. We will influence their manifesto and present a cogent case for supporting fundamental change in FE. That starts with closing the pay gap with teachers, a minimum national starting salary of £30K, simplifying and increasing FE funding, and looking closely at an existing post 16 national agreements like the Red Book in sixth form. Fully funded and binding national bargaining is the aim of this political work. 

• Our industrial demands resonant, are relevant and are the basis on which members can unite and the union can build. However, we must recognise that members want to address years of pay austerity and unmanageable workloads as a priority. We know also that the AoC is fickle and relatively powerless. We need to force sufficient numbers of employers to enable the change that’s needed at national level and that will not be via the AoC or the NJF in its current form. 

• The union in FE is building and going from strength to strength but we have not developed, aligned, or embedded a strategy that can win. 

• Our organisational capacity at branch level is not consistent. Our membership peaks and troughs and is widely spread. Our rep’s network is variable. We need to implement a growth plan for more reps, more training and development, more members, more density and more local campaigning and wins. 

• We need a road map to national bargaining that goes at the pace a significant majority of branches can move at and which joins up the various strands that make up a New Deal for FE. Analysis of voting patterns at FE sector conferences, feedback from branch briefings and the recent FE reps survey, indicate there are currently around 40 branches that support a move to an aggregate ballot on national bargaining now. By any objective indicator that is not sufficient to secure the union’s strategic ambitions. But it is a good place to start. 

• There are unavoidable legal challenges in establishing a national aggregate ballot on binding national bargaining. We can’t have a dispute with the UK government, the DfE or the AoC. The grounds of the dispute will need to be legally tight and the demands on the employer’s deliverable and not subject to successful challenge. Getting this wrong will take us backwards. 

• My view is that the union is not currently able to move to a national aggregate ballot with a realistic prospect of success. Doing so too soon will undermine rather than improve our chances of securing fundamental change. We need to build and articulate a new strategy based around a New Deal for FE. 

1. I recommend FEC calls a Special FESC at the end of April/beginning of May to consider branch feedback and build the New Deal for FE strategy and campaign. 

REPS’ SURVEY SUMMARY RESULTS

• Reps consider it very important UCU builds branch capacity, recruitment, and density.
• Regarding the prioritisation of the three-core industrial and campaign demands, reps prioritised: 
• Workload 
• Pay 
• National Bargaining 
• Regarding how close the union is to winning on the core demands, it’s an even split, with only a minority of reps saying we near securing the demands. 
• There is very strong support for branch autonomy and the capacity to make local deals.
• On the question of how members in the coming pay round are likely to react to pay offers similar to this year, 60% say their members will accept. 
• Regarding confidence levels of winning an aggregate ballot on national bargaining, it’s split with no clear majority either way.  

NEXT STEPS

• Branches are essential to the proper functioning of UCU democracy and decision making. 

• We need a member-led, bottom up, organising approach and branches must demand to be consulted and make the final decisions on strategy.

• Strategy should be debated and democratically agreed by branches. 

• A special FE Sector Conference must take place as soon as possible.