By Socialist Alternative members in the National Education Union
After reaching an agreement with the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA), the National Education Union (NEU) leadership has decided to suspend action in non-academised sixth form colleges in England. The agreement reached by the unions and the employers is for a 3.5% pay rise backdated to September, with a move to 5.5% in April.
The 5.5% lift, however, will not be backdated, meaning that the overall increase for the year will be 4.3%. Considering education workers in academised sixth form colleges have had 5.5%, this means pay parity has not been achieved. The agreement also included wording from the SFCA that “firm reassurances have been given from the government that this differential treatment will not be repeated beyond this year.”
A bitter blow despite progress
Whilst this is undoubtedly an improvement that has been hard-fought by industrial action from the NEU – more than doubling the original offer of 2% and defending the national collective bargaining of the sector – the decision to suspend action is undeniably a kick in the teeth for sixth form college educators who are struggling to pay their bills in the cost of living crisis. Especially so when facing a chancellor determined on repeating the austerity politics that has driven the conditions of the working class down year-on-year since 2008.
This retreat also comes at the exact time that the dispute was beginning to pick up steam. The rally in London on the last strike day, 29 January, outside Parliament attracted hundreds of sixth form college teachers from across the country – far more than the event outside the Department for Education’s (DfE) Whitehall offices at the start of the strike action. The dispute also gained coverage in a Guardian editorial, and has been raised in parliament by a variety of MPs, some of whom also spoke at the Westminster rally.
Even if written assurances are given, words on paper are ultimately just that – a piece of paper. In the funding of educators’ pay, it is the DfE, not the SFCA, who has the final decision. The agreement is effectively useless if the DfE attempts to pay colleges differently again in the future.
A deal already on the table
It is important to note that the pay component of this agreement is not a new development – it has been on the table for some time. The only new element is the wording of the agreement with the SFCA, which provides reassurances that differential treatment will not continue in the future. However, these reassurances, while welcome, lack binding guarantees and fail to address the root causes of pay inequality. Selling this deal as a fresh victory risks misrepresenting the situation and further eroding members’ trust in union leadership. It also reflects a lack of clarity about the next steps in this critical campaign.
If this agreement is broken, the NEU says it will ballot members once again for strike action. But members may rightly ask, if they were let down this time, how can we trust our leadership now? The current settlement has not resolved parity in pay. Since school teachers received the full 5.5%, this means that an A-Level teacher would have an extra £570 in their pocket if they were doing the same job in a secondary school down the road from their sixth form college. Trust and momentum are difficult things to build – and once eroded can be impossible to rebuild amongst a jaded membership who feel they have been let down by the union structures.
Sustained national action needed
The union leadership currently insists that localised action can win the 2% uplift in individual colleges across the SFCA, which they hope will lead to a domino effect of college principals paying out. There is no guarantee of this, however, with the sector as financially stretched as it is, as well as removing the demand on the DfE to fund any subsequently won rise in pay. This also seems to fly in the face of the collective bargaining position, since inevitably some colleges will receive the 2%, and others not – a line which will likely also be used by college leadership to resist the demands of workplace reps.
Members in the colleges will also feel they have been left to fight locally by this decision, rather than being a confident push towards more effective national action. Instead of moving to localised action which is unlikely to succeed, the NEU needs to keep up the pressure on the government by continuing the national strike action in sixth form colleges.
With the difference between the current offer and the 5.5% given to schools standing at only £1.5m, the dispute is winnable if strategic pressure is maintained. Whilst the government will claim the money is not there, the truth is that their resistance to settle is based on pandering to the right-wing press. The government can, however, be forced to move by strategic strike action, and the gains already made in this dispute are proof of that.
NEU members in sixth form colleges need to reject the current offer and keep up the fight for parity with the pay rise given to school teachers. Rather than snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the NEU needs to develop a consistent and strategic pattern of action in the run up to the Easter holidays. This should include having national union figures visiting picket lines, addressing member meetings and using the union’s political influence to pressure the Labour government into correcting the injustice. The NEU should also use its political voice to reach out to independent MPs and suspended Labour MPs to coordinate parliamentary pressure in our support.
If you agree with our analysis and alternative programme for action, get in touch with Socialist Alternative today!
