Dear Members,
The employers' final pay offer of 2% or £425 (whichever is the greater) is noticeably lower than the unions' claim for an increase of 7.5% or £1,500 (whichever is greater) and a minimum wage of £10 per hour. This falls well short of our aim. Recent years have seen a series of below inflation pay rises, which have made it increasingly difficult for HE staff to make ends meet.
UNISON’s Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) considered the offer and agreed to consult with members with a recommendation that you should VOTE YES TO REJECT the offer. This is in line with UNISON’s 2018 higher education conference, which voted to recommend rejection of any offer that did not meet the claim agreed by the unions.
If UNISON members VOTE YES TO REJECT by a notable majority with a decent turnout, the HESGE will request a full industrial action ballot and seek to co-ordinate with other unions, which could lead to escalating industrial action to make the employers improve their offer.
We are therefore going to have a consultative ballot with our members in Higher Education. The ballot will start on Monday 9th July and will run for 3 weeks - so will close on 30th July.
I will be sending out the ballot information as soon as I have it all from UNISON National Office along with any other literature they send out.
Please look out for your ballot papers and think carefully about how you want to vote as by voting YES TO REJECT, you will be voting for Industrial Action.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Cathy