Message from John Brady: national pay bargaining 2018-19
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
This year’s pay bargaining process is now underway.
The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) met with representatives of the five HE trade unions, including the University and College Union (UCU), on Monday 26 March for an opening meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES). Two further meetings are scheduled for Friday 13 April and Thursday 10 May.
No formal pay offer has been tabled as yet, and the first meeting was spent gaining an understanding of the joint pay claim tabled by the trade unions and the contextual information provided by the employer representatives. If you are interested, copies of the respective materials provided by the JNCHES participants can be accessed via the pay negotiations page of the UCEA website.
I will provide further updates as the negotiations progress.
Colleagues should note that the JNCHES process is completely separate from the ongoing discussions regarding the future of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). A further proposal – including the establishment of a panel of independent experts to review the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) valuation, processes and assumptions and to agree key principles to underpin the future joint approach to the valuation of the USS fund – is subject to a ballot of UCU members which closes on Friday 13 April. Further information will follow early next week.
John Brady
Director of Human Resources