NEWS Online Sunday 21st of December 2008
Pay freeze on Silver book lecturers is unlawful.Arguments will be heard by Court "LEAF has now lodged with the European Court of Human rights (ECHR) a substantive argument that the pay freeze imposed on Silver Book lecturers
ie those who refused to sign a new and worse contract in 1994 and whose pay has never been increased since that time is unlawful. We have always known that the lecturers' contracts were trashed by a government that was determined to force through inferior contracts on lecturing staff after incorporation. This was done by forcing new starters to FE after April 1993
and existing staff who were promoted to sign individual contracts whose terms are truly dreadful and which do not provide the basis for the working relationship of a career teaching professional. In a flourish of gallows humour and deliberate offensiveness
these third world employment terms were described as 'professional contracts' by the employers organisation. In order to incentivise the professionals already employed on the Silver Book (note to FE lecturers who have joined in last 15 years see our website for details of the Silver Book - www.leafunion.org.uk)
the government and employers froze indefinitely the pay and career prospects of all staff who refused to sign the new contracts . By this crude device they created a virtual apartheid within colleges. And in doing so broke the law. To this day
experienced lecturers in colleges are working to 1993 salaries. Not for much longer though." What does it mean?
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."
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Saturday 30th of August 2008
.... "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].
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Monday 21st of April 2008
FE pay over 35% below schoolteacher rates Lecturers are taking strike action on Thursday 24 April alongside NUT members who are on strike against the government's 2.45% pay offer. We support all efforts by lecturers to improve pay and conditions and continue our work for justice for FE lecturers.
There is no pay offer for FE lecturers "In the parallel universe that is the FE sector
any pay offer made on behalf of the employers does not mean that it will be paid even if accepted by the lecturers. That is because each college can individually decide whether to pay some of it
all of it or none of it. During the past two years an absolute majority of colleges have elected not to pay all or any of the pay award."
Needed - national pay framework "Schoolteachers have in the past ten years seen their pay climb consistently . That is partly because the government has followed a policy of increasing pay to make the profession more attractive to applicants. It is also because the schoolteachers retain their national pay and conditions arrangements. Changes to pay and conditions
once agreed are binding on the employers. this vital tool
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 15th of January 2008
LEAF has also logged further specific complaints with the Commission and with the European Parliament. The European Parliament has now also acknowledged our new ‘petition’. We intend to seek an urgent meeting with them very soon to progress the matter. "In the context of the rage that has greeted Gordon Brown’s announcement that he is seeking to restrict public sector pay increases to 2% or less for three years
how does a 0% increase for 14 years sound? That is what has been handed out to FE lecturers who elected to keep their legal contracts which gave them conditions of service similar to those of schoolteachers." "Staff on the nationally-agreed terms are still working in the colleges today who have received no pay increase for 14 consecutive years! They are presumably to remain on the maximum of their scale
£20 538 per annum
until they leave their posts." "We want all ‘stakeholders’ in the system to know that we will never
ever accept this situation and that we will not cease our fight until this injustice is righted. For the vast majority of lecturers whose pay is not being frozen but who languish in the wake of their schoolteacher colleagues in terms of pay
conditions of service and professional development and career options LEAF has a clear message."
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 15th of January 2008
"LEAF has now made contact with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and has been invited to formally set out its complaint that lecturers’ human rights have been abused (see Dec.18 2007 article previously). We are now engaged in this process and we will confirm to the ECHR that:"
"· by wilfully refusing to offer career progression and pay increases to lecturers who took their European Law rights following the transfer of colleges in 1993 the employers and the government effectively created an economic apartheid which constituted cruel and degrading treatment to the staff affected
contrary to Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights;" and
"· by failing to ensure that lecturers were given the practical assistance to mount an effective legal challenge to this treatment the lecturers rights to a ‘fair trial’ (in this case their rights to have a civil dispute properly aired) were breached
contrary to Article 6 of the Convention."
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 18th of December 2007
Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) "Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) specifically prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment. By creating a virtual ‘apartheid’ in terms of pay and prospects
and giving staff no option but to relinquish their ARD rights or suffer a permanent pay freeze the employers are guilty of imposing degrading treatment on staff for no other reason than they decided to keep their lawful terms and conditions. "
many staff reluctantly conceded their rights. Those who did not have suffered year-on-year declines in their living standards. Many have suffered the degradation of management attacks on their integrity
have had false and vindictive disciplinary hearings imposed have suffered financial distress
loss of their homes and other life-changing setbacks which may also have undermined their other human rights to a family life and to safety and security. The responsibility for this systematic abuse of human rights lies firmly with the employers."
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 18th of December 2007
"Complaints Now Filed with EU Commission EU Parliament
and Commission on Human Rights." "Following an unsuccessful complaint to the European Ombudsman that the commission had failed to properly address LEAF’s complaints about the treatment of lecturers in the years following colleges’ incorporation in 1993
LEAF has refined and re-presented its arguments to the Commission and to the European Parliament. A further complaint has now been lodged with the European Commission on Human Rights with a request that the matter be referred to the Court of Human Rights at the earliest opportunity. "
What Is The Argument? "As with our previous cases and submissions
LEAF is arguing that the treatment of lecturers post-1993 was designed to ensure that the protection of the Acquired Rights Directive (ARD) was made ineffective. LEAF lost a legal challenge in 2002 that maintained that the imposition of new contracts was unlawful. This decision did not address the question of the pay freeze; however. the Court and Appeal held that the introduction of new contracts was not forbidden by the ARD. The EU Commission later agreed with this and that position was maintained by the Ombudsman. However
it is clear that by concentrating on the staff that remained on the Silver Book our argument is much stronger. LEAF has always put forward the case of the Silver Book lecturers and the discrimination they have suffered
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 21st of June 2007
The AGM of LEAF will take place on Saturday 7 July 2007 St Augustine's Avenue
Thorpe Bay Essex.(directions available. Drive - Thorpe Bay
Essex/Rail -Thorpe bay)" If you would like to attend the AGM please contact us by clicking the link below
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Tuesday 15th of May 2007
EU Commission concedes that transfers of contracts under EU law cannot be used for pay freezes "LEAF has written to the EU Parliamentary Committee on Petitions asking that its case that EU law has been breached against a whole class of employees
be referred to the European Court of Justice for a judgement. The Committee had responded by sending the complaint to the european commission for an opinion and also sending the complaint to the committee on employment and social affairs for their information. Very recently
the Parliamentary comittee received a response from the commission which claimed that LEAF's complaint had been investigated and found to have been invalid. Unfortunately for the Commission it has responded by referring to the first complaint LEAf lodged
relating to lecturers who had signed the new contract following incorporation in 1993! In the course of their reply to the wrong question the commission has conceded a key argument put to the Petitions committee by LEAF."
The Commission has declared unhesitatingly that the Aquired Rights Directive on transfers cannot be used by asn employer (far less by a government or state) to freeze pay and conditions such that the freeze would constitute a worsening of conditions of service. We are right and they know we're right! "That is exactly LEAF's contention
which is a grim reality that was experienced by every lecturer who refused to transfer to new and inferior non-collective agreement terms following the transfer of colleges in 1993. Even today LEAf is representing the interests of lecturers working and trying to exist on 1993 pay levels. These heroic colleagues have suffered horrendously over the years as their living standards
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Sunday 18th of Feburary 2007
Complaint now being investigated by EU Parliamentary petitions Committee "LEAF has received a letter from the EU Parliament Committee looking at its complaint against the UK government
that the issues raised are to be investigated. Interestingly the EU has confirmed that it has asked for two separate but related complaints to be conducted. We remain convinced of the correctness of our case The issues we have raised go back to the incorporation of colleges in 1993. We have said consistently since then that the freezing of lecturers pay and conditions of service on the silver book
organised by the UK government and the college employers was illegal and a perverse interpretation of the 'protection' offered by the Directive designed to protect employees on a transfer. The EU agrees that an investigation is necessary This issue has occupied much time and energy. We believe that it is a slow burning fuse which will expose the employment policies of the FE sector as illegal and unsustainable when it finally 'catches fire'."
Our argument is essentially this.. "That following the transfer from local authority to independent corporation
the employers used the protection of the Acquired Rights Directive to actually attack lecturers security by freezing the pay and career prospects of staff who remained on their Silver book. The consequences of this were that within a year
a majority of lecturers on transferred conditions had signed over to new inferior contracts of employment. In other words
Return to top of Page NEWS Online Thursday 15th of February 2007
Complaint now being considered by EU Parliamentary petitions Committee "It is now almost 14 years since FE colleges were 'incorporated'
that is removed from local authority funding and control and given to unelected and unaccountable governing bodies
and funded by an unelected quango ( now the LSC) under a regime which is designed to force them to regard further education provision as a process of throughputs' rather than a process which involves real intervention and support in students' lives to improve their skills
knowledge qualifications and confidence."
LEAF's views now find mainstream support "The college leaders
who have done exceptionally well out of this charade for well over a decade |
