JANUARY 2001     MAKE 2001 THE YEAR IN WHICH YOU HELP LEAF WIN!   NATIONAL TEST CASE APPEAL   SET FOR FEBRUARY     We wish all lecturers, their families and friends, a happy and prosperous New Year. To make these sentiments a reality, LEAF Officers and their legal representatives have been carefully assembling the evidence that will be presented to the Employment Appeals Tribunal to demonstrate that the changes to contracts following incorporation were unlawful. Readers are referred to our website (www.leafunion.org.uk) for detailed discussion on the issues, but in brief, our appeal will argue that the original decision of the Employment Tribunal was wrong because: • It is based on an incorrect application of the Law, particularly European Law   • It is based on erroneous findings of 'fact' • It contains numerous mixed errors of fact and law • It is perverse, in that no reasonable tribunal could have made the decision faced with the facts set out before it. Whatever you might hear from others, please note that we remain confident of eventual victory in this crucial test case, which will have massive consequences for all teaching staff in the sector. Please respond, therefore, to our appeal for funds and support later in this newsletter.   DECEPTION OF STAFF MUST NOT GO UNCHALLENGED•••• LEAF Counsel were able to demonstrate during the Tribunal hearing that the transfer of many thousands of FE teaching staff from the Silver Book conditions of service to the inferior ‘new contract’, was effected with the help of a deliberate deception. It was shown that letters sent to staff by individual colleges between March and June 1994, asking teachers to move to the corporation contract, were deliberately misleading and wrong about the consequences of not doing so. The letters sent by the corporations were identically worded in crucial respects, leaving no doubt that they originated from a single source – the national employers' organisation! The result of this employers campaign was a wholesale transfer of staff to new, and more, local contracts.Although Roger Ward and his friends in the DfEE and Government were able, at the time, to congratulate themselves on a "job well done", we have exposed their misdeed.   The transfer of the vast majority of staff from their protected national conditions of service was brought about by economic duress allied to misinformation. Under no circumstances can they be viewed as "voluntary" transfers in this light. It has already been confirmed to LEAF that the employers had feared having to negotiate a national settlement if they were unable to prise staff from the Collective Agreement. So, they resorted to a pay freeze and campaign of misinformation instead. It worked – for a while. But very soon you can be sure we shall expose the unlawfulness of the whole exercise.   HAS THERE ALSO BEEN A PENSIONS DECEPTION? Members will be aware that draconian changes to teachers' pension entitlements have taken place, which has meant that early retirement has virtually ceased in Further Education. Before the changes, in 1998, a lecturer over 50 years of age was entitled to his/her pension immediately, if his/her employer certified that the employment had been terminated by redundancy or in the interests of the efficient discharge of the employers' functions. (Prior to incorporation enhancement of the pension by the LEA was common.) The new regulations, which became fully effective in April 2000, allowed for early retirement of all teachers as from the age of 55 and 59 years of age, although with reduced pensions. It is not clear to us, though, why the new regulations should cancel the earlier right to early retirement on the properly accrued pension. A LEAF member who has been give a reduced pension has asked for our guidance on the matter. LEAF is now examining the regulations as they relate to the primary legislation (the 1972 Act) on teachers' pensions, to determine whether or not a conflict exists between the effect of the new regulations and the earlier contractual and statutory benefits. Please be assured that if we consider that a further legal ‘sleight-of-hand’ has taken place, which has disadvantaged staff, LEAF will pursue the matter vigorously.   BOOM IN CASE WORK Your Union is heavily involved in casework on behalf of members up and down the country, covering a wide range of concerns. Please remember that you are now, as a result of changes to the law, entitled to LEAF representation with your management where a work-related disagreement, or potential disagreement, exists. Questions of ‘recognition’, membership of other organisations, or other ‘red herrings’ should not dissuade you from seeking assistance when and where you need it. LEAF has already intervened decisively on behalf of individual members, winning considerable sums in compensation, where a wrongdoing has been demonstrated. If you want LEAF's strength behind you in any complaint you have, contact us now. Remember, you are entitled to be represented by LEAF.   ELECTION YEAR - SHOULD LECTURERS CARE? LEAF was founded during the last Conservative administration, in 1995. Our existence came about as a direct result of the changes made to lecturers' terms and conditions by that, and the previous, administration. By abolishing LEA control and creating unaccountable corporations, the government were able to fragment bargaining and, by controlling and manipulating the funding mechanism, exert continuous downward pressure on pay and conditions. In the years following incorporation, huge increases in ‘productivity’ were brought about by forcing lecturers to do more and more for less. However, although ‘quantity’ increased, ‘quality’ slumped, along with lecturers' morale. Morale has hit absolute rock bottom in Further Education, and will not improve unless massive improvements in pay and conditions are brought about. In opposition, Labour appeared to understand the scale of the problems. Solemn promises were given to LEAF that pay discrimination in FE would end, and that National Pay and Conditions would resume, with a ‘catch up’ programme to get pay back up to former levels. They said all this whilst in opposition, anticipating power. We greatly regret that, once in office, Ministers began to immediately backtrack and issue statements, which confirmed their adherence to the previous, Conservative, settlement. Letters to Baroness Blackstone, the Minister ‘responsible’, referring to pay and conditions, are invariably replied to by the Minister, stating her inability to interfere with the "independence" of college corporations. This convenient fiction has meant that New Labour, which proclaimed education as its priority at the last Labour election, has, like its predecessor, let down teachers badly. After a full term of the New Government, there are lecturers teaching in colleges up and down the country, on frozen 1993 pay levels. That is a disgrace. The continued squeeze on all teaching staff in FE, with many not receiving all or anything of ‘recommended’ pay levels, demonstrates again what an appalling employer the State has proved to be. LEAF asserts the right to comment on any matter that affects lecturers' careers, pay and prospects. Whichever political party you favour, we ask you to support LEAF when you are looking to advance your professional interests.   LEAF IS REPRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES AND INSTITUTIONS–– SPREAD THE WORD TO COLLEAGUES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Acacia Hall Therapeutic Community, Lincoln, Lincolnshire Amersham and Wycombe College (Prison Education), Perry, Cambridgeshire Arthur Mellows Village College, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Barking College, Romford, Essex Barnet College of Further and Higher Education, Colindale, London Barnsley College, Barnsley, South Yorkshire Bishop Auckland College, Bishop Auckland, Durham Blackpool and Fylde College, Blackpool, Lancashire Boston College, Boston, Lincolnshire Bradford College, Bradford, West Yorkshire Bradford and Ilkley Community College, Bradford, Yorkshire Braintree College, Braintree, Essex Brighton College of Technology, Brighton, Sussex Burton Upon Trent Technical College, Burton upon Trent Cambridge Regional College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Cannock Chase Technical College, Bridgtown, Staffordshire Cannock Group Training Limited, Cannock, Staffordshire Canterbury Adult Education Centre, Canterbury, Kent Canterbury College, Canterbury, Kent Carshalton College, Carshalton, Surrey Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, Holborn, London Chichester College of Arts, Science and Technology Chichester, West Sussex Chippenham College, Chippenham, Wiltshire City and Guilds School of Art, London City and Islington College, Islington, London City College Birmingham, Tysley, Birmingham City College Manchester, 141 Barlow Moor Road, West Didsbury City College Norwich, Norwich, Norfolk City of Westminster College, Maida Vale, London Clarendon College, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Colchester Institute, Colchester, Essex College of North East London, Tottenham, London College of North West Kent, Dartford, Kent College of North West London, Neasden, London Doncaster College, Doncaster, West Yorkshire Education Lecturing Service, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire East Berkshire College, Langley, Slough, Berkshire East Durham & Houghall Community College, Peterlee, County Durham Epping Forest College, Loughton, Essex Grimsby College, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire Halton College, Widnes, Cheshire Havering College of Further and Higher Education, Hornchurch, Essex Hendon College of Further Education, Colindale, London Hugh Baird College, Liverpool, Merseyside Huntingdonshire Regional College, Huntingdon Islington Sixth Form Centre, Islington, London Keighley College, Keighley, West Yorkshire Kingston College, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey Lambeth College, Clapham Centre, Clapham, London Leeds College of Technology, Beeston, Leeds Liverpool Community College, Liverpool, Merseyside London Guildhall University, Whitechapel, London The London Institute, London Macclesfield College, Macclesfield, Cheshire Melton Mowbray College, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire Merton College, Mordern Park, Surrey Mid-Cheshire College of Further Education, Northwich, Cheshire Moulton College, Moulton, Northamptonshire New College, Bromsgrove, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire New College Corporation, Durham, County Durham Newham College of Further Education, East Ham, London Newark and Sherwood College, Newark, Nottinghamshire North Birmingham College, Great Barr, Birmingham North Hertfordshire College, Hitchin, Hertfordshire North Lincolnshire College, Monks Road, Lincoln North Lindsey College, Scunthorpe Northumberland Tertiary College, Ashington, Northumberland Park Lane College, Leeds, Yorkshire Pendleton College, Salford, Manchester Peterborough Regional College Peterborogh, Cambridgeshire College of Further Education Plymouth, Devonport, Plymouth Pontypridd College, Pontypridd, Glamorgan Redbridge College, Romford, Essex Rother Valley College, Dinnington, South Yorkshire Runshaw College, Preston, Lancashire Sandwell College, West Midlands The Sheffield College, Stanningfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire Shipley College, Shipley, West Yorkshire Solihull College, Solihull, West Midlands Somerset College of Arts & Technology, Taunton, Somerset Soundwell College, Stoke Gifford, Bristol South Cheshire College, Crewe, Cheshire Southgate College, Southgate, London Southampton City College, Southampton, Hampshire Southport College, Southport, Merseyside South Thames College, Tooting, London Southwark College of Further Education, Waterloo, London Stafford College, Staffordshire Stamford College, Stamford, Lincolnshire Stoke-on-Trent College, Burslem, Staffordshire Stratford-upon-Avon College, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire Suffolk College, Ipswich, Suffolk Sutton Coldfield College, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands Swansea College, Tycoch, Wales Swindon College, Swindon, Wiltshire Teesside Tertiary College, Middlesbrough, Teesside Thanet College, Broadstairs, Kent Thurrock College of Further Education, Thurrock, Essex Trowbridge College, Trowbridge, Wiltshire University of Middlesex, Hendon, London University of Surrey, Roehampton, London Walsall College of Arts and Technology, Walsall, West Midlands Warrington Collegiate Institute, Warrington, Cheshire West Cumbria College, Whitehaven, West Cumbria West Kent College, Tonbridge, Kent Westminster College, Westminster, London West Suffolk College, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk West Thames College of Further Education, Isleworth, London Weymouth College, Weymouth, Dorset Wigan and Leigh College, Parsons Walk, Wigan York College of Further and Higher Education York, North Yorkshire   MEMBERSHIP FORMS AND STANDING ORDER MANDATES CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE WEBSITE Join LEAF Now! LEAF continues to receive calls for help from lecturers who have been badly treated by individual colleges, or who have been let down by the recognised unions. Abuses of trust and power continue to be a feature of life in the incorporated sector. We are well aware of further plans to dismantle the last vestiges of professionalism in the sector. LEAF stands in the path of all these negative developments and that is why we believe your interests lie with joining us. In recent months the employers' representatives have attempted to marginalise LEAF's contribution by a range of tactics. None of these measures will succeed, and indeed are likely to have the opposite effect to the one intended. Find out more about LEAF by visiting our Website or phoning us–– Membership Forms are available from the Website or by Telephone request. Mention LEAF to your colleagues, consider setting up a Branch–– and please PHOTOCOPY AND DISTRIBUTE THIS NEWSLETTER–– thank you.   We look forward to hearing from you!   © LEAF 2001 Return to top of Page