No rise for part-timers

Lecturers in Northern Ireland’s further education sector, who have suffered a succession of pay freezes, have been offered a 1% rise for 2013-14. But their union, UCU, was told it would not apply to hourly-paid part-time lecturers, on the grounds that there was no business case for increasing their rate. The union slated the employer’s approach as potentially unlawful, discriminatory and a public embarrassment and said it would encourage and assist members excluded from the award to take claims against their colleges.