Ұлыбритания университет оқытушыларының бұрынғы кәсіби одағы

Former trade union of the United Kingdom

The Association of University Teachers (AUT) was the trade union and professional association that represented academic (teaching and research) and academic related (librarians, IT professionals and senior administrators) staff at pre 1992 universities in the United Kingdom. The final general secretary of AUT was Sally Hunt. AUT also had branches in a number of post 1992 universities (the ex polytechnics and other institutes that have become universities since 1992) and in university colleges, although the main union representing academic staff in these institutes was the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE). On 2 December 2005, the results of a membership ballot on a merger of AUT and NATFHE was announced. The merger was supported by 79.2% of AUT and 95.7% of NATFHE members who voted. The two unions amalgamated on 1 June 2006, and after a transitional year, full operational unity was achieved in June 2007. The new union is called the University and College Union (UCU).

In March 2004, AUT members took industrial action over the proposed new pay structures (the Framework Agreement) offered by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). The original proposals from UCEA would have meant large reductions in income due to smaller annual increments. The action involved a one day national strike and one day strikes in each of the four countries of the UK, followed by an assessment boycott that threatened to derail examinations that summer. The industrial action lasted 25 days before UCEA gave in and agreed to many of the union's demands. The agreement included the so called Memorandum of Understanding which provided certain safeguards on the way the new pay structures were to be implemented in pre 1992 universities. However the agreement did not cover post 1992 universities.

On 22 April 2005, the AUT Council voted to boycott two Israeli universities: the University of Haifa and Bar Ilan University. The motions to AUT Council were prompted by the call for a boycott from Palestinian academics and others. The AUT Council voted to boycott Bar Ilan because it runs courses at colleges in the occupied West Bank (referring to Ariel College) and "is thus directly involved with the occupation of Palestinian territories contrary to United Nations resolutions". It boycotted Haifa because it was alleged that the university had wrongly disciplined a lecturer. The action against the lecturer was supposedly for supporting a student who wrote about attacks on Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel. The boycott, which was not compulsory, was set to last until Haifa "ceases its victimisation of academic staff and students who seek to research and discuss the history of the founding of the state of Israel". The AUT's decision was immediately condemned by Jewish groups and members of the AUT. Critics of the boycott within and outside the AUT noted that, at the council at which the boycott motion was passed, the leadership had cut short debate citing a lack of time. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Union of Jewish Students accused the AUT of purposely holding the vote during Passover, when many Jewish members could not be present. Israel's embassy in London issued a statement criticizing the AUT's vote as a "distorted decision that ignores the British public's opinion", and condemning the resolutions for being "as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted." Zvi Ravner, Israel’s deputy ambassador in London, also noted that "[t]he last time that Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany." Abraham Foxman of the Anti Defamation League issued a statement condemning the "misguided and ill timed decision to boycott academics from the only country in the Middle East where universities enjoy political independence". The AUT said that members had voted for the boycott in response to a plea for action by a group of Palestinian academics. It was condemned by the Israeli Embassy, the British Ambassador in Israel, by Jewish Human Rights groups, by al Quds University in Jerusalem, by the National Postgraduate Committee of the UK, and by Universities UK. Some members of the AUT, headed by Open University lecturer Jon Pike subsequently gathered enough signatures to call a special meeting on the subject. The meeting was held on 26 May 2005, at Friends Meeting House in London. At the meeting, the AUT decided to cancel the boycott of both Israeli universities. Reasons cited for the decision were: the damage to academic freedom, the hampering of dialogue and peace effort between Israelis and Palestinian, and that boycotting Israel alone could not be justified.

Attempts had been ongoing for some time to develop a plan for merger. Prior to 2004, these however, came to nothing. In 2004 both AUT's and NATFHE's conferences voted to "explore ways of achieving maximum unity between the two unions". Initially it was not clear what form this would take closer collaboration, full merger or something in between. However proposals for a new union which would include all AUT and NATFHE members quickly emerged and proposals to ballot the members were endorsed at the conferences in April and May 2005. On 2 December 2005 the results of the ballot was announced. The merger was supported by 79.2% of AUT and 95.7% of NATFHE members who voted. The two unions amalgamated on 1 June 2006, and then entered a transitional year until full operational unity is achieved in June 2007. The new union is called the University and College Union (UCU).

In 2006 AUT and NATFHE engaged in industrial dispute with Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) over pay. AUT and NATFHE claimed that UCEA promised that one third of the extra income from top up fees would be spent on pay and their 2006 pay claim was based on this. UCEA's initial response was "that it is very likely that a significant proportion of the HE sectors new income will be spent on improvements in staff pay and conditions, but that HEIs had never given a commitment". AUT and NATFHE both voted for strike action and carried out a one day stoppage on 8 March. From 9 March to 6 June they boycotted the marking of exams and coursework, with the AUT (but not NATFHE) also boycotting the setting of exams and they rejected an offer of 12.6% over three years which was made on 8 May and a further offer of 13.12% over three years made on 30 May. Concerns grew that students might not be able to graduate in 2006 until the industrial action was suspended at midnight on 7 June while members were balloted on a new offer.