Colleges’ offer is reluctantly approved

Public services union UNISON has given its backing to a new pay offer for employees of further education and sixth-form colleges in England.

In a consultation carried out by the union, the staged pay award – featuring a 2% increase backdated to the beginning of last month, with a further 1% on 1 February 2008 and underpinning for the lowest grades – was rejected by members at only four of the 53 colleges that responded.

National officer Christine Lewis was quick to point out that members were not happy with the offer, but considered it to be “not quite bad enough– to reject “in an unstable climate where jobs are at risk–.

However, the fate of the award will hang in the balance for at least another month – all six unions representing college staff must agree to it, and lecturers’ union UCU has said it will not give its response until after it has held a pay conference in October.