UCU FE ballot: Vote no to fees deal

UCU union members in further education colleges are to ballot on a proposed deal on the annual fees for compulsory membership of the Institute for Learning.

All FE lecturers are supposed to belong to this quango, which wants to present itself as the FE sector’s professional body.

The institute was demanding £68 for the next 18 months, followed by an annual fee. Some 22,000 members signed an online petition against the fee rises and the union’s Further Education Committee called for a ballot on rejection. This ballot was suspended pending negotiations. The proposed deal provides some extra funding over the next two years to reduce the fee from £68 to £38, and to provide a lower rate for those earning less than £16,000 a year.

But from 2013 the fees are set to rise to at least £68 a year. This is unacceptable. Members of the union’s Further Education Committee have voted to recommend rejection.

Download a model motion from www.uculeft.org.uk