ESOL cuts in bristol
Sep 17 2009 12:07
Hi there
My g/friend is an further education ESOL teacher in Bristol. Their funding has been cut from LSC by a large amount (between 50 - 60%) and they have been offered new contracts. There are 13 staff there, and only 11 posts so sounds like 2 job losses, they have given them 3 days to sign the new contracts. The contracts (through some sneaky wording) reveal a 13% pay cut, plus additional work duties for no pay.
They are fuming. I write for 2 reasons - first of all has anyone done any research into the quango that is LSC? I ask as i would like to write something that contrasts the pissy amount in real cash terms that the budget cut is compared to the £220,000 + salaries and pensions of the bosses of LSC. I have been looking through their annual report and even that as their top 'spin' document marks them out as a dodgy lot. They are numerous examples of cash floating from their budget to private companies , even when they havn't delivered their remit (for example, Liberata who was supposed to sort out payment of EMA (Educational Maintenance Allowance) to students messed it up, were sacked. They got a sign off payment of 4 million for their troubles, plus the LSC decided not to fine them the £3 million they could have.)
So if anyone has already done some of this research already that would be really helpful. They are making cuts all over the place at the moment so it would be a useful thing i think for others.
Second thing - anyone got any tactical tips for them? they are a mix of UCU,NUT and non unionised , there is a new branch of IWW formed in bristol that is keen also.
nice one
steve s
Sep 17 2009 19:13
#2
Hi Stuffit,
Esol funding is so complex that even Esol teachers in Tower Hamlets, London, who have been on strike for 15 days against the cuts can't understand it! Generally the LSC (Learning and Skills Council) is withdrawing funding from the lower levels and local authorities are supposed to control more of it. But the situation is changing right now.
I'm sure you didn't come to libcom to get a bunch of URLs but you may want to have a look at these for resources if a campaign is starting up
http://www.natecla.org.uk/ - professional organisation
http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2255 (Save Esol campaign from 2007)
http://www.callcampaign.org.uk/ - has a esol campaign
http://defendjobsandeducation.posterous.com/ - thc strike blog
good luck!
Sep 18 2009 19:24
#3
Hi there
Thanks for comments and URLs, all helpful. It turns out that management made a fck up with the rate of pay, and it is more or less the same as before.
She is employed by the council. It's slightly messy as they are on term time contracts so technically speaking they have no contract at the moment. I think they are going to get rep present at the meeting. The meeting is on monday morning at 10am and they have given them until end of the day to sign the contract 'otherwise the positions will have to put out to tender'.
They have been looking at the Tower Hamlets stuff and are inspired.
Steve: the LSC is massive quango , that is being phased out and is being morphed into some new ones. The only critical stuff i can find out about them is mainly Daily Telegraph blogs going on about them being 'central planning socialist marxist new labour of the worst kind' (!) but i am sure there is a story about them being a bunch of private interests profiting from and determining public policy, Obviously that's not a suprise, but it can be useful to be able to highlight it, especially if they are the 'face' of some of the proposed education cuts.
ta
steve
Sep 18 2009 19:55
#4
Steve, if they are all council employees then they must be covered by the council's organisational change procedure. In this there will almost certainly be an obligation to consult with the recognized trade unions, and there should be things built into it like payment protection or redeployment opportunities, so that no one suffers pay cuts or compulsory redundancy .
Of course, this doesn't mean that people are totally secure, but these are things which people can fight for, if stopping the whole plan is not achievable.
Making people sign new contracts in a day or two doesn't sound like something they could actually do
Hi,
Sorry, what's LSC? I don't know anything about them, I'm afraid.
So do I take it that your girlfriend is working for a small private contractor, as opposed to a school or college, and being directly employed by the council?
In terms of making redundancies and changing people's contracts, they can't just do it with only three days notice. They have to consult with staff over a given period.
In terms of tactical tips for them, well someone should try to set up a meeting of all the staff to put together a plan for resisting the changes.
Part of this would be getting proper advice in terms of the legality of what's happening, and whether or not it meets. The organisation's own procedures. Any of the people in a union should be able to get this from one of their reps - or a least get hold of policy documents from HR, and legal guidance documents from their union branch, if they want to have a more DIY approach, which would be highly recommended.