Urgent campaign update  (fwd) ------------ Forwarded Message ------------ Date: 03 February 2006 15:55 +0000 From: Justine Stephens  To: Info  Cc: Matt Waddup , Justine Stephens  Subject: Urgent campaign update Distribution:  LA Presidents, LA Secretaries, LA Administrators, AUT Executive, all AUT staff Dear All, In this weeks briefing for members:   * Latest on the growing divide within UCEA   * More money than expected announced by HEFCE   * Student and political support   * New campaign materials As always please do pass this email on to all members at your LA -- with less than two weeks left to vote it is imperative that we really push for a high turnout now to send a clear message to the employers. Best, Justine --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ Dear Colleagues, Every YES vote weakens the employers position: Talks between ourselves and the employers broke down last time when it became clear that they were not prepared to discuss our claim seriously and when they made calling off our ballot a precondition of any further discussion. Despite this, AUT and NATFHE remain committed to a negotiated settlement if at all possible. We have written to UCEA asking them whether they do indeed intend to negotiate further, as they claim, and assuring them that we are ready to meet them for serious discussion to resolve the dispute. View the letter here: http://www.aut.org.uk/media/docs/d/1/talkslettertoucea_jan06.rtf However, the ballot result will be crucial in determining whether the employers do come back to the table. We need the biggest possible turnout and the biggest possible YES vote. We need a result that will send to UCEA a clear message of unity and determination in our pursuit of a fair professional wage.  The cracks are already showing. Members may recall that during the last dispute, growing pressure on Vice Chancellors led a number of them to lobby UCEA to get back into talks with the AUT. See the story here: http://www.aut.org.uk/index.cfm?articleidx3 Now the signs are that the same may be happening again. UCEA met with University personnel representatives last Thursday and while there are as many accounts of what happened as there were institutions represented at this meeting, one thing is clear: the employers are divided on how to settle the dispute, with some wondering out loud what the point of UCEA actually is if they are not prepared to negotiate. Every vote strengthens our hand, and if the employers are divided let us show that we are united and determined to secure better pay. Scare tactics and foul play: The employers appear to be getting more and more rattled and more and more divided with every week. Some of them seem to want to sort the pay claim out and the others want to make life as difficult as possible. Some are even emailing each other to try and see if they can turn the dispute into a money making exercise. Sadly for them, that email fell into the hands of the THES and was splashed on their front page this week. Read all about it and other news and letters in this weeks news digest here: http://www.aut.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid14 Congratulations to the member who correctly guessed one of the email culprits -- a prize is on its way! More good news for the employers: Recurrent funding from the government for teaching by higher education institutions in England will be increasing by 6.7% in 2006-7, the Higher Education Funding Council for England announced this week. Although there has been a cut of 69,000 in the full-time equivalent number of students projected for 2006-7, the overall level of teaching funding has actually gone up. The real terms amount of teaching funding (the unit of resource) per student is Â£3,820 in 2006-7, not Â£3,490 as stated earlier by the government in its 2004 grant letter. There will be a 17% increase in funding to widen participation. The funding for teaching does not include the additional money coming into higher education in England through top-up fees. HEFCE also announced that recurrent funding for research in 2006-7 will be going up by 7.3%. Student support: NUS have been supporting our campaign by passing on a letter from Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney to all Students' Union Presidents and by issuing a joint article from AUT and NATFHE to student media contacts. Moreover, many student papers have been covering this issue independently -- many thanks to all of you for passing them on -- here is one example (from London Student) which is certainly worth a read: http://www.london-student.net/content/view/118/39/ Political support grows as MPs urge VCs to talk: AUT general secretary Sally Hunt has this week met both the Minister for Higher Education Bill Rammell MP and the Conservatives' shadow higher education minister Boris Johnson MP. Having heard an update on the current dispute both expressed their concern at the low levels of university salaries and Bill Rammell reiterated that the government was increasing funding into the sector in England and that one of the reasons why it had introduced top-up fees was to improve university salaries. Meanwhile, in the House of Commons, Labour MP and Education & Skills select committee member Gordon Marsden has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) supporting our pay campaign and calling on the employers to seek a settlement. The EDM has already received cross-party support and we will be writing nationally to all MPs next week urging them to sign it. The best way of persuading them to sign however will be pressure from their constituents so please contact your MP urging them to sign EDM 1540 - University salaries (available here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID)961&SESSIONÂ5 ). The easiest and quickest way to do this is to email your MP via: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ Campaign materials and information: The campaigning area of the web is being constantly updated, please check regularly: www.aut.org.uk/paybacktime (and then link to campaign materials). Go here now to download our latest poster -- 'I've voted, have you?': http://www.aut.org.uk/media/pdf/b/2/ballot-ivevotedposter.pdf Guidance on strike action and action short of a strike will be issued to every local association and will be made available via the web should members vote in favour. LESS THAN 2 WEEKS UNTIL THE BALLOT CLOSES -- VOTE NOW, VOTE YES TO STRIKE ACTION, VOTE YES TO ACTION SHORT OF A STRIKE Justine Stephens Head of Campaigns AUT Egmont House 25-31 Tavistock Place London WC1H 9UT Tel: 020 7670 9700 Mobile: 07887 565976 ______________________________________________________________________ This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender. The views expressed in this email are those of the sender and not necessarily the views of AUT. AUT has taken steps to ensure that any attachments are free from viruses. You should, however, carry out your own virus check before opening any attachment. AUT accepts no liability for loss or damage caused by software viruses. ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ ---------- End Forwarded Message ---------- Yvonne --  Yvonne Aburrow Web Developer, Computing Services, University of Bath +44 (0)1225 38 6022 Y.Aburrow@bath.ac.uk http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsya/