Dear Joce

 

AUT/UCEA DISPUTE

 

I am grateful to colleagues from AUT and UCEA for taking part in the discussions at Congress House on 8, 15 and 16 March.  As agreed at the end of our meetings I am now writing to convey formally the terms of the proposals developed in the discussions, and these are set out in the attached document headed ‘Framework Agreement for the Modernisation of Pay Structures’.

 

Both sides’ negotiators confirmed their intentions to recommend these proposals strongly to their respective constituencies recognising them as the best that can be achieved through negotiation to resolve the current difficult dispute.

 

It has been agreed that these proposals will be reported to the Strategy Planning Committee of the AUT and the Board of UCEA at 12 noon on 18 March.

 

I am grateful to colleagues from both sides for the patience shown and the spirit in which these negotiations have been conducted and I hope these proposals do prove acceptable as providing an honourable resolution to this dispute.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

General Secretary

 

 

1.                  The AUT negotiators will recommend their Strategic Planning Committee, Executive and Council to ratify the Framework Agreement negotiated in July 2003, subject to agreement of the following Memorandum of Understanding between the AUT and UCEA:

 

·    that contribution thresholds in the pay scales for these staff should be set no lower than the present non-discretionary maxima for equivalent grades;

·    that these staff will have a normal expectation of annual progression to the contribution threshold for their grade;

·    that this incremental progression to the contribution threshold will take no longer than under current equivalent arrangements.

·   emphasised that the requirements in the Framework Agreement about common grading across staff groups will embrace both academic and senior administrative, library and computing staff;

·  noted that a number of pre-1992 universities and colleges have already been engaged with AUT, or have indicated willingness to engage with AUT, in developing role profiles for academic-related staff; and

·   agreed that any institution which has undertaken work of this sort should be invited to contribute such profiles to a library database, maintained nationally by UCEA.  These profiles for senior administrative, library and computing staff, suitably indexed with reference to grade and function, would be published to assist HE institutions and their partner unions in the process of negotiating and implementing new grading arrangements on a timely basis.

3. The UCEA negotiators will recommend the same Memorandum of Understanding to their Board and pre-1992 university and college subscribers.

 

 

4. The AUT negotiators will recommend their Strategic Planning Committee, Executive and Council to end the present industrial action, to encourage AUT members to return to normal working as rapidly as possible, and in particular to seek to minimise the impact on students (especially those due to graduate this year) by working with HE institutions to reschedule outstanding assessment processes so that these can be completed without undue delay.

 

5. UCEA recognises that restoring good industrial relations with the AUT and its members is a priority.  The UCEA negotiators will therefore recommend their subscribers not to victimise or unfairly penalise any AUT members who have taken strike action or action short of a strike, and not to impose unreasonable deadlines as part of the necessary rescheduling of assessment processes.

 

 

6.  Once ratification of the Framework Agreement and the ending of industrial action have been agreed on the above basis, UCEA will recommend its subscribers to implement as soon as practicable the pay increases set out in the Framework Agreement.

 

 

 

 

 

16 March 2004