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We have now received the final written offer from the national employers’ organisation the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA). This consists of:
UCEA state that this offer is strictly ‘without prejudice’ and they cannot guarantee it will remain on the table beyond 29th October – when the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review is announced and where further funding cuts to HE are expected.
We have reached the final offer and so need to decide the next steps. UNISON’s HESGE has had long and detailed discussions on the options. The employers have taken a very strong stance and the HESGE believes that industrial action short of strikes, or even a one day strike will not be enough to move them. Therefore we could try to force improvements by rejecting the offer and call on members to take sustained strike action or we could reluctantly accept the offer.
Taking all the evidence into account the HESGE does not believe that we would be able to deliver the strong strike action necessary to move the employers on pay this year. Whilst it would be tempting to call for a rejection and hope that members will follow this, the HESGE believes that leadership means taking tough decisions based on the evidence. Therefore it recommends with reluctance that members accept the offer this year. This will allow us to ‘keep our powder dry’, continue to build our campaign against the cuts, redundancies and pensions and be ready to take action on the right issues at the right time - when members are ready.
For more information please download and read the full member briefing 
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