UCUOur members must not be left to suffer from the inequalities and degraded living standards they experienced under Tory rule.
Labour must invest in the further education workforce.
UCU has called off potential industrial action at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education in East London, after management agreed to demands to improve staff working conditions.
Following negotiations agreement was reached to end the use of zero hours 'worker' contracts.
There was also agreement to raise the top of the pay scale and to backdate a 2.5% pay increase for all academic staff to September 2023.
UCU has signed a recognition agreement with private training provider South West Durham Training (SWDT), which is a subsidiary of Bishop Auckland College.
The deal comes after years of organising by UCU members at the provider, including recruiting over half the teaching staff to the union, and means UCU is the only union there able to bargain on behalf of teaching staff.
The majority of further education college staff want an end to Ofsted inspections.
A new UCU report, 'A culture of fear and anxiety: UCU members' perceptions of Ofsted inspection in further education', exposes a crisis of confidence in the Ofsted process. The findings show college staff experience high levels of stress and anxiety due to Ofsted inspections, creating a major health and safety risk.
Staff at five colleges in Cleveland, Redcar and Stockton-on-Tees have announced new strike dates in a long running dispute over low pay.
On 16 May staff will picket the open day at Redcar and Cleveland College campus and on Wednesday 22 May they will picket Stockton and Riverside College campus.
The strikes are the latest escalation after staff rejected employer Education Training Collective's (ETC) most recent offer.
Members of UCU at Barking and Dagenham College will be out in force tomorrow rallying to protest against management's refusal to improve staff working conditions.
As well as a properly negotiated pay increase, members are calling for management to agree action to tackle workplace stress.
UCU members at five colleges in Cleveland, Redcar and Stockton-on-Tees have renewed their mandate to take strike action.
The strike vote is the latest escalation in the long running dispute over the 22/23 pay award. It comes after staff took six days of strike action and rejected employer Education Training Collective's (ETC) latest offer.
Staff at Myerscough College have won a pay rise of up to 12.8%.
UCU members at Myerscough only won recognition at the college last year making this year the first time it has had to bargain with the union. UCU said the pay deal is the best staff have seen in years, showing the importance of unionising.
A strike ballot has now opened at New College Durham in a dispute over low pay after staff voted to reject a paltry offer of 4% (from August 2023). The most recent college accounts show it has over £9m in assets, up £2m on the year before, and is rated as having outstanding financial health by the UK government's Education and Skills Funding Agency. UCU research shows it spends less of its income on pay than any other college in the region.
Staff at five colleges in Cleveland, Redcar and Stockton-on-Tees will strike on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 March.
The strikes come after an overwhelming 79.3% of UCU members at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy and Redcar and Cleveland College who voted, rejected the latest pay offer from employer Education Training Collective (ETC). Turnout was 64%.