SFEU (Solidarity Federation Education Union) continues to stand in solidarity with those workers who are currently involved in the UCU industrial actions taking place at FE and HE institutions across the country.
The UCU, at a Special Higher Education Sector Conference, has now set out the terms of the continuing dispute centred on pensions and the Four Fights (casualization, workload, equal pay and conditions for women and BAME workers and the broader issue of pay).
Our small but growing Union, the Solidarity Federation Education Union, supports this ballot and argues that workers should vote in favour of strike action to defend our pensions and conditions. With inflation rising, furlough ending, and historic injustices over pay, pensions and conditions continuing to prevail, the only option left to us is downing tools and walking out. To have any chance of success, this action must be both local and national and must build on the gains, small though they were, of the last period of strike action.
The ‘living wage’ is an annual estimation of the average wage needed to cover in a realistic way the expenses of a person living in the UK. It is also a demand made by different unions and civil organizations in the UK and sets the ‘subsistence salary’ at £7.85 per hour (except for London, where the ‘living wage’ is £9.15 per hour).
Floplast bosses show their true colours
Management at Floplast in Bobbing, Kent responded to moves by the workforce to get recognition under the 50% rule by promptly sacking 6 people. Since the new legislation came into force, employers in Britain have been employing law firms to get advice on union busting and intimidating workers. If Floplast get away with it, other bosses will follow suit.
So, send support/solidarity and get action details;
Floplast Workers C/O GPMU Kent Branch, 155 London Rd, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 1PA
Telephone: 01795 423 993 Fax: 01795 471 791
Email: dannym@gpmukent.demon.co.uk
Also, let Floplast Operations manager Derek Bartrip know what you think - Fax him on 01795 431 188
Casualisation Kills
In 1997, councils across Britain came to an agreement with unions to undertake ‘Single Status’ job evaluations to end the discrepancies between manual and white collar jobs. Parallel to this, claims made about the historic pay discrepancies between traditionally male and traditionally female jobs were won at various Employment Tribunals. Historically, workers in female dominated jobs (such as those working around childcare) have been paid significantly less than those in jobs usually seen as ‘men’s work’, such as refuse collection.
Since the Equal Pay Act in 1970 these pay discrepancies had been open to legal challenge, but Single Status was supposed to be an across the board solution that would see every job within the councils evaluated and regarded equally based on the content of the job. In theory, this was of course a good thing.