The University has been informed that all five trade unions have now responded to the employers’ final offer for this year’s annual pay award negotiation.
It has been confirmed that the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has rejected the offer and is invoking the Dispute Resolution Procedure alongside the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) and Unite.
It is now looking likely that the first Dispute Resolution meeting will take place in early September with a second one mid-September. The two unions not in dispute (UNISON and GMB) are invited to attend the meetings as observers.
In practice this means that a resolution is unlikely before October 2015, but once an agreement is reached any pay award will be back dated to 1 August 2015.
Each year the University employers, represented by the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), engage with the various trade unions representing employees at the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) to agree an acceptable pay award.
This year the new round of negotiations started in February. At the fourth meeting on 12 May 2015 following detailed discussions a full and final offer was made, on both the pay and ‘pay equality’ claims.
The offer provides a general base pay uplift of 1% from 1 August 2015 on all pay points, save for points 1 to 8 where higher base increases have been offered. The offer includes proposals for two particular new pieces of joint work on matters relating to gender pay gap and to casual and hourly paid staff.
More information including detail of the employers offer can be found on the UCEA and UCU websites.