NEWS Online Saturday 24th of October 2009
A discussion on the status, pay and conditions of lecturers concluded that LEAF's campaign in the European Union represented the only realistic prospect for a better deal for lecturers in the sector.
After discussing the claims that LEAF has lodged with the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament, it was agreed to press on with the claims in the expectation that developments will occur in the next year which will vindicate LEAF's long campaign.
A Public sector Pay freeze? We've had one for 16 years!
The news from both Labour and the Conservatives ( with the Lib Dems trying to outdo both) that public sector pay would be frozen from 2011-2012 brought guffaws of ironic laughter from LEAF members. Not that this is a laughing matter. The pay of the remaining Silver Book martyrs (those who took their EU law rights in 1993) has been frozen since September 1993. For those who had to relinquish their rights and sign a college contract, pay freezes have been a normal part of life in the incorporated sector for 15 years. Most colleges have failed to meet recommended pay deals over the past 15 years, with only a very small minority paying the recommended increase every year.
It's only one year, after all. Isn't it? Our message to public sector workers who think that a pay freeze of one year might be a 'price worth paying' for job security and financial stability is ... it never works out that way! You will find it harder to get the freeze ended than it was to accept it. The pay of FE teachers has continuously declined by comparison with schoolteachers for over 15 years, as colleges used their ability to determine pay increases to... decline to offer it! Not only this, but job losses, re-structuring, downsizing and a culture of oppression has become the dominant experience for staff in the sector. You have been warned! LEAF has clear advice to any group of workers who face the set of circumstances we have faced. We are here to offer support and help to all staff in the situation of pay and career freezes.
Schoolteachers beware. You are next!
What happened to FE lecturers in 1993 is now set to repeat itself for the 500,000 or so schoolteachers over the next few years. LEAF has always warned its teacher trade union colleagues that if the government was allowed to break agreements on pay and conditions of service by trashing the national collective agreements of lecturers they would later, if not successfully challenged, move on to impose the same solution on schoolteachers and other public sector workers.
Regrettably our colleagues have not always listened to our advice or heeded the warnings from our history. The move to make most schools independent of state 'control' ( by means of academy creation), announced by Michael Gove at the Conservative Party conference last week, heralds a move away from national pay and conditions of service bargaining. Gove is an ideologue who seldom allows reality or common sense to impinge upon his theorising. Although the proposal has been presented as tackling underperformance and setting schools 'free' of local authority control (bizarrely at the same time as they state the need to empower local authorities to make local decisions which suit local needs), it actually is about destroying collective agreements, saving money, and creating a kaleidoscope of different schools with different aims, purposes, outcomes, results and methods - a type of educational feudalism, in fact.
Schoolteachers' pay structures and careers will head the same way as those of lecturers South that is. If you don't believe this, study what has happened in the FE sector since 'incorporation'. Nobody considering the present proposals of all parties can be excused for not knowing what is likely to happen. It's all happened before in the FE sector over the past 20 years. The move to make every school an academy is simply the incorporation model as applied to schools. There is no real pretence anymore that a 'sponsor' plays any financial role in the school, and the requirement to commit resources has been dropped. It has very little to do with standards. Nobody in FE even tries to argue that standards improved following incorporation.
Strip away the false argument about standards and what you are left with is opted-out schools which will be funded centrally in an era when massive savings are to be made in public expenditure. The funding regime will be controlled rigidly by the government through whatever quango it brings into being to perform this function.
It doesn't take a genius to see what will happen next. The schools sector is in for a rough time, and teachers and their representatives need to analyse and consider every utterance of government spokespeople in order to respond correctly. We in FE have learned the hard way that what they say is not necessarily how things shape up. But there is a way to respond, and we believe that we have the means and the expertise to ensure that an entire generation of school pupils are not short-changed as were their FE student counterparts in the 1990's.
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Saturday 3rd of October 2009
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view AGM presentation click here LEAF has been contacted by the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament, which has confirmed that it is now re-examining our complaint first lodged with the European Commission in 2007. In response, LEAF has now supplied the Committee with a substantial body of evidence to back our claim that the government and FE employers conspired to remove the lecturers’ rights to continue to benefit from their collective agreement rights, contrary to the Acquired Rights Directive (ARD).
We are completely confident of our arguments on this critical issue, and you are advised to monitor this website for updates as the autumn unfolds. The writing is on the wall for the FE colleges and the Government, the latter being particularly responsible for upholding EU law. When we win, as we will, there will be 16 years of discrimination compensation to be settled.
FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE.. LEAF was formed in 1995 in direct response to assault on terms and conditions begun by the government of the time through the changes of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act.
We took several cases relating to our contention that the new contracts (in the manner in which they were introduced), were unlawful. We were forced through lack of funds to discontinue claims we had made relating to the pay freeze in mid 1990’s, and we lost a case in the EAT and at the appeal relating to the imposition of new contracts for temporary staff. After being refused leave to appeal the latter, we made a complaint to the EU Commission which was also rejected after several years of dialogue. A further complaint to the EU Ombudsman was also rejected. We then complained to the EU Parliament and in 2007 took our case to the European Court of Human Rights. We have not accepted the UK Court’s view or that of the EU Commission, relating to the lecturers’ rights. We insist that their treatment was, and continues to be, unlawful. It takes a lot of confidence to maintain an argument against such overwhelming opposition, but please be assured that we can back up our claims.
WE CONTINUE TO ASSERT THE CORRECTNESS OF OUR ARGUMENT. We have been accused of arrogance and of ‘flogging a dead horse’ by most of our opponents over the years. ‘Arrogant’ because we insist that our argument is correct. We do insist this, but there is no arrogance in this assertion. Because we are confident that our case is sound, we believe we will win. In recent exchanges with colleges involved in freezing lecturers’ pay and careers, the colleges have in effect confirmed that they have been acting on shared legal advice, and that they have no effective defence for their actions. They should be very worried indeed! We are summarizing the essence of out argument below.
FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE.. Following incorporation in 1992, the terms and conditions of lecturers transferred from LEA to the independent corporations. These transferred terms and conditions included the collectively-agreed terms of the Silver Book. The lecturers were entitled to continue to benefit from these terms and conditions, which included pay bargaining and pay increases, and promotions and staff development. This right was established by operation of Article Three of the Acquired Rights Directive, and the right to benefit from the full terms of the Directive was conceded by the Secretary of State at the time. Shortly afterwards the new employers wrote to all lecturers in post at the time of transfer, informing them that they intended to dishonor the collective bargaining mechanism which the state had earlier agreed would transfer in full. Thus the breach of the law happened immediately following the transfer.
FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE.. Without going too deeply into the legal complexities, which we have now set out in full to the European Courts, our argument is relatively simple: it was simply not open to the employers or government to walk away from these contractual terms, or to use the transfer as a pretext for discontinuing with terms which were legally protected.. Despite the fact that collective agreements in Britain are of a voluntary nature, their continued effect as a part of the contracts of the lecturers was preserved by the transfer.
FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE.. The employers have breached the lecturers’ ARD rights by imposing a pay and career freeze, since the discriminatory action was not a proportionate action in pursuit of a legitimate aim. The case law of the European Court of Justice has established that transferred rights may not be discontinued outside the operation of legitimate (known as ‘ETO’) reasons. It was established by NATFHE in 1992 prior to the transfer and that the impending transfer of April 1993 fell within the jurisdiction of the ARD. The government was forced to recognize this in a legal settlement in October 1992, and pay NATFHE’s costs. Notwithstanding this decision, the employers declared some six months later (but before the transfer) that they would not be bound by collective agreements following the April 1993 transfer. This decision put them outside the law. Regrettably, NATFHE failed to challenge the employers further on this point and meekly allowed them to walk away from the bargaining forum. Essentially, this betrayal led to the creation of LEAF. NATFHE is now history and LEAF was left to fight for lecturers’ rights alone. We are now at the point where we will make a decisive breakthrough on this vital issue. FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE..
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 10th of March 2009
LEAF's claims now gaining serious credibilty with EU institutions Readers of this site will know that LEAF's claim that lecturers were subject to unlawful discrimination that has breached their human rights is due to be heard by the Court of Human Rights, probably later this year. We will notify you as soon as we hear further from that court.
We have now heard also from the European Parliament, via its Petitions Committee. You may recall that the EU Parliament had earlier turned down LEAF's claims regarding the pay and career freeze imposed on FE lecturers. LEAF wrote back to the Committee in December after taking further legal advice from a leading employment solicitor.
The Petitions Committee has now changed its mind and is looking again at LEAF's case, in the light of the new and relevant legal arguments we have placed before them.
In a letter dated 18 February 2009, the Committee has informed us that it has referred our case back to the EU Commission for consideration. When a reply is received, LEAf will discuss the findings with the Committee, and seek a referral of our case to the EU Court of Justice.
Three European Bodies are now considering LEAF's case The European court of Human Rights, the European Parliament and the EU Commission are all now considering submissions made by LEAF. Although the cases have differences in terms of their emphasis, all have a common thread running through them, relating to the unlawfulness of the employers' actions in freezing the pay and conditions of FE lecturers to achieve their transfer to more exploitative contracts of employment. For 15 years now, LEAF has fought against the de-professionalisation of the sector.
We are now poised to win We are completely confident of the correctness of our claims, and we expect to win the argument. When that happens, we will move on to re-establish the pay and conditions required for all staff in the FE sector. For all the staff who have lost so much, we will ensure that their losses are made good.
LEAF represents your interests We ask you to give your support to LEAF, which alone represents the preofessional interests of FE lecturers. Look out for further updates on this site.
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Saturday 14th of February 2009
Pay rises and conditions are inseparable questions
Only LEAF has the key to the problem As February begins, lecturers in colleges across the sector are taking action to secure a pay increase formula agreed four years ago with the employers. Needless to say, many of the colleges across the sector have reneged on agreements to increase pay and narrow the gap between lecturers' pay and that of schoolteachers.
Pay gap with comparable workers is a massive gulf We said 'gap', but in fact the pay of lecturers has fallen far, far behind that of schoolteachers. Yet, following educational and examination reforms, lecturers are increasingly being asked to do work that school teachers are ill-equipped to cope with. In addition to that, the Government appears to want FE to step up to the table and 'equip' Britain's workforce with the skills and qualifications needed to beat the recession and to counter unemployment. This is a laudable aim, and LEAF has repeatedly warned the government of the vital and irreplaceable work carried out by the teachers in the sector. Yet, all this work is apparently to be carried out by teachers working to the lowest pay and worst conditions in the Western world: not if we have any say in the matter though.
First things first When colleges left the local authority framework in 1993, the colleges’ employers launched a massive assault on pay and conditions. Over the years virtually all staff were brutally forced to work to new conditions, on pain of a pay freeze, sacking, intimidation or marginalisation. The result has been fifteen wasted years for the sector, which has made no progress whatsoever in terms of its historic role in providing academic and vocational qualifications for young adults and older citizens, in skills training and in supporting social education. LEAF has fought back since it was founded in 1995, pointing out that without control of terms and conditions, and a collective agreement, there could be no progress in terms of improving pay and conditions. LEAF is still fighting for your rights and remains undefeated and focussed on the key issues.
We will win this dispute We support the actions of the brave lecturers who are taking action on pay. However, the key fight must be over the contractual arrangements that govern pay disputes. LEAF has lodged its claim that the pay freeze on staff following the transfer in 1993 was an unlawful discrimination targeted against staff taking their lawful rights. Our case will be heard soon and we expect to win. Had there been no TUPE 'protection', there would have been no basis for the employers to create the discrimination which led to staff giving up their Silver Book contracts. We are confident that the European Court will agree with us that the Acquired Rights Directive, which protects workers in a transfer, cannot be lawfully used to worsen the terms, conditions of service or pay of those who sought its protection. We are sure that the Court will agree with us that a fifteen year unbroken pay and career freeze is a grotesquely disproportionate action against staff holding lawful contracts
What will we do when we win? We will insist that every lecturer who had their pay frozen is compensated for the disadvantages they suffered. This is not only back pay, but the enormously damaging consequences for the ability of the lecturers to pay bills, raise families, maintain homes and develop their careers. If your pay and conditions do not match those of a colleague in the school sector, you will benefit from LEAF's actions. You need to know about LEAF's work now. After that we intend to negotiate a new collective agreement which will cover all lecturers in the sector, which will be binding on the colleges concerned. After that time, the practice of colleges 'deciding ' not to offer a pay increase that has been negotiated, will end. The colleges naturally do not want this, and are terrified at the prospect of LEAF succeeding. But succeed we will.
Join LEAF LEAF stands alone against the college employers, as the only lecturers organisation representing exclusively FE lecturers. We alone can deliver the decisive breakthrough that will improve dramatically the pay and terms of FE teachers. Soon we will publish our case in full and invite you to comment and support the case. Please keep posted to this site and let your professional colleagues know.
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 14th of October 2008
ROBINSON v THE UNITED KINGDOM Members will be aware that LEAF submitted a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] concerning the treatment of staff who relied on the Acquired Rights Directive to protect them at the point of transfer, but who were instead penalised by way of a pay, career, and pension freeze.
....... Our complaint to the Court was made under Article 3 [prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment] and Article 6 [which preserved the right to a fair hearing, including in a civil case when civil rights are the question at issue].
Members will be pleased to learn that by a letter dated 6 October 2008, the ECHR notified us that our case would be heard as soon as is practicable. This is very important news for our members, many of whom have been the long-suffering victims of those injustices that followed the transfer of further and higher education institutions to statutory corporations from local authority control in 1993.
......... The determination of LEAF Officers and members has been of critical importance in the Union reaching this stage its efforts to achieve justice. We will keep members advised of the proceedings through the website as we receive further news from the ECHR.
......... I wish to take this opportunity to thank our supporters for sticking by us in the difficult and turbulent times they have faced since incorporation.
David Evans
General Secretary Following the transfer of colleges from local authority control to statutory corporation in 1993, staff that relied on their European law rights for protection of their pre-transfer employment relationship were denied pay increases and career progression; causing them to suffer a life-long penalty in terms of the pensions they could expect when based upon a frozen salary and career prospects.
It is an appalling fact to report that there are a number of our colleagues in their 14th year of having been denied pay increases and career progression. The contractual changes and the demand that pay be frozen for those who refused to accept a new and worse contract - relying on their ARD [public law] rights to protect their pre-transfer terms -, was planned and controlled by the United Kingdom government. It is a matter of fact and of record that in freezing pay and conditions, the colleges were acting on the instructions of their employer body, in turn inextricably linked to and liasing with the United Kingdom government. The government thereby largely managed their strategy indirectly through the Association of Colleges [formerly the CEF] which organisations received public funds and had key positions filled by public appointment.
.... Following major cases brought by LEAF before the English courts and complaints to the European Commission and other European institutions, we have now made an Application to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of those members who upheld their European law rights and remained on the Silver Book collective agreement.
The submission LEAF has made to the ECHR is that staff affected by the pay and conditions freeze have had their human rights breached under Article 3 [prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment] and Article 6 [which preserves the right to a fair hearing including in a civil case when civil rights are the at issue]. LEAF remains confident of the correctness of its position and regardless of the United Kingdom’s efforts to stymie our challenges, will leave no stone unturned to achieve justice for those of it colleagues who have been so badly mistreated.
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