FE Pay Claim 2023/24 updates
The NEU and other FE trade unions met the FE employers again on 11 May. It was deeply disappointing that the employers did not offer a pay increase.
NEU and the FE trade unions (led by UCU and Unison and including GMB and Unite) presented their pay claim for 2023/24 on 19 April. Not only were we looking for a sensible and reasonable pay offer but were also seeking to reset the sorry state that FE pay negotiations have arrived at. FE lecturers are now £9k adrift of schoolteachers.
The joint trade unions also proposed in the pay claim discussions around a new framework for collective bargaining and more coherent local implementation, as well as an alignment to a new FE contract.
At the first meeting for the pay negotiations, the AoC (Association of Colleges) failed to respond to the pay offer and also shied away from any resetting of the collective bargaining dial. This was incredibly disappointing, particularly as the AoC admitted that pay was too low, that FE lacked public recognition, and that FE had little political value for government and politicians generally.
Our solution is to build a coherent sector with coherent collective bargaining at its heart and a uniform agreement around terms and conditions and workload. Not only are these the building blocks of any robust occupation, but they are the necessities for a thriving profession. If the AoC cannot see that then we are in even deeper trouble than we previously imagined.