Louise Nousratpour in Blackpool
Monday May 29, 2006
The Morning Star
OUTRAGE: Education workers protesting outside the ICC in Birmingham, last year.
NATFHE delegates vowed yesterday to step up industrial action to force "greedy hypocrite" employers to make a fair pay offer.
Lecturers, who had hoped that a marathon 23-hour negotiation session with employers last week would produce an offer worthy of a debate at their union's conference, expressed outrage at the employers' refusal to table a deal.
They vowed to march on London on Thursday - the day when NATFHE and sister union AUT merge to form the new UCU - to demand fair pay.
NATFHE head of universities Roger Kline accused bosses of deliberately refusing to make an offer so that delegates could not discuss it at conference.
"But they misjudged the mood of our members, which is to not only maintain but to step up the action," he insisted.
"I have not received one single letter or email from any member asking me to ballot members on the bosses' initial 12.6 per cent three-year offer - which was rejected by union negotiators - or to end the dispute," he said.
"So the support for action is still rock solid," Mr Kline insisted.
Delegates heard that, during the negotiations last Thursday and Friday, employers had tabled various "inadequate" offers which had been rejected by union negotiators.
These included a two-year settlement of 9 to 11 per cent on the pay scale, which NATFHE national officer Andy Pike stressed would have been worth below 8 per cent in real terms.
Although it was a two-year deal, employers wanted to pay it out over three years - with commitments from union officials that no action would be taken in the third year.
"Bosses claimed that they could not afford anything more, so we asked for an independent financial review of their kitty," Mr Pike explained.
"They refused to meet this demand or put out a fresh offer.
"So the dispute will go on until we are made a satisfactory offer with no strings attached."
In the light of the new development, delegates vowed to stick to their original call for a 23 per cent pay rise over three years.
AUT and NATFHE members have been involved in a series of actions short of strikes for over eight months, including a refusal to mark final university exams.
Executive member Jill Jones moved a motion expressing the union's determination to fight the dispute "to the bitter end."
It was passed unanimously.
"Our members are facing daily threats of pay deductions and lock-outs, but support for continued action is solid," Ms Jones said.
Executive member Mary Davies condemned employers' "unacceptable" demand that union members should give up their right to take action in the third year of a deal.
"And, if they think pay docking will result in us caving in, they should think again.
"We will not be bullied into submission," she added to cheers.
Southern region delegate Michael Jardine hailed the National Union of Students' support for the lecturers' dispute.
"The employers' despicable behaviour is directly to blame for disruption to students' education due to our dispute - not us," he insisted.
"They will not succeed in driving a wedge between us and our students, who fully back our claim."
London delegate Steve Cushion urged members across Britain to join Thursday's demonstration to "reject the employers' pathetic offer through a united, determined, mass action."
The march will assemble at 12.30pm at London South Bank University in Keyworth Street.
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