Members have accepted the 2% pay offer from employers from August 2014, and have also ended the dispiute over the 1% offer for 2013.   The ballot produced a 4-1 majority in favour of acceptance, though here in Bath the result was closer with less than a 2-1 majority in favour of settling now.  This is probably a reflection of the much worse terms and conditions faced by staff working in Bath than at other universities, and the Bath branch committee has committed to continuing the campaign to improve local terms and conditions.

Your local committee would like to thank you for your support throughout this dispute.   We’ve had questions about the outcome of the ballot and the end of the dispute and would make the following points:

• Did the strikes work? Yes, the strikes did have an effect.  We would otherwise almost certainly have been offered at most 1% for 2014/15, quite possibly less. And the 2% will of  course have knock-on effects on following years.
• What about locally? The dispute has strengthened the local branch, in terms of numbers and activity.  The good support & turnout locally puts us in a strong position for local negotiations.   As Bath is one of the meanest of all the employers and uses more insecure contracts than other universities, we will build on the Fair Pay in HE campaign to         demand improvements to local terms and conditions.   This is the first dispute when we have worked so closely with sister unions UNISON and Unite, and we are all in a stronger position than six months ago.    We also built some new relationships with students and the SU, and will continue working on them on issue such as the proposed cuts to Disabled Student Allowance.
• Was it a good strategy?  Bath University UCU Committee was initially sceptical of the 2-hour strikes, but they involved more of our members than some of the one day strikes.
• Is the Work to Contract finished? The formal Work to Contract is off, but NB you should keep managing your workload – no more than 36.5 hours on a regular basis for full time. This is not industrial action, it is a sensible approach in terms of stress, health and safety, work quality, and work-life balance.

Can you please remind your colleagues who are not members of UCU that they will also receive the pay increase won through your efforts, and suggest to them that if they also join us we will be able to defend and improve pay, terms and conditions for everyone.  You can pass this message on – there is a link to UCU at the end.
We have invited Harriet Bradley, a member of UCU HE Committee to attend our branch meeting on Monday 19th May when we will look back at the Fair Pay campaign and look ahead to future campaigns on pay, terms and conditions of employment.
Thanks again for your support.