In this Bulletin
Branch General Meeting Report
Academic Appraisals
Health & Safety
Recruitment Drive
Branch General Meeting Report
Thank you to all who came to the first BGM of the academic year last week. Over 100 members attended, which is great but also a sign that so many people are unhappy with the way things are at the university at the moment.
First, the Branch Secretary And Rosta and Vice-Chair Tamsyn Mahoney-Steele updated the meeting regarding the progress of our various current disputes with management. On redundancy prevention, we are still hoping to have a binding agreement before Easter but progress has been slow, despite great effort, and we still may need to escalate to a ballot for strike action to keep the pressure on. On L-SL progression, progress has also been limited and a strike ballot may be needed on this issue too. (Addendum. Since the BGM, we have had some productive meetings on both these disputes and are now more optimistic that agreements can be reached soon. We hope to have some concrete proposals to discuss at the next BGM.) On block delivery & the sprints, we are almost at a conclusion. As reported in the last Bulletin, senior management have agreed that the choice between the short fat model and the long thin model should be taken by course teams, that teams also have a choice between sprint validation and the normal course review process, and that teams still have some flexibility within the new framework to vary contact hours according to the needs of the subject. If any teams are being told otherwise, the problem lies with their own school managers: we would recommend that such teams should collectively push back, with UCU support if necessary. Similarly, any teams who were forced into block/sprints/reduced contact etc before senior management made these concessions, and who are unhappy with the result, should collectively push back, with UCU support if necessary. On recording of teaching sessions, discussions are ongoing and management have agreed not to force academics to comply with their disputed policy, pending resolution. Similarly, on grade G roles, progress is again being made and we are hopeful of agreement soon.
Next, the Branch Sec spoke about the national strike ballot currently being conducted over pay. This ballot is extremely badly timed for us, as we know from experience that running two ballots at once is virtually impossible, so if we do need to ballot locally on the disputes mentioned above, we will be forced to wait until January at the earliest, when the national ballot is over. Furthermore, the aim of the campaign – increased pay, in a nutshell – could be extremely damaging to universities like ours, who are teetering on the edge of financial crisis and already threatening redundancies regularly. Lastly, the ballot seems tactically stupid too, coming after a poor turnout in the indicative e-ballot, which suggests there is little appetite for industrial action among the membership. Therefore, the Branch Committee does not propose to make any GTVO efforts at this time. Several members also addressed the meeting on this topic: all expressed exasperation with the union’s tactics, saying (inter alia) that it would be better for UCU to be working with UCEA to influence the government, rather than painting them as the enemy. Only an improved funding model will improve the pay crisis in HE.
Next, our Recruitment Lead Andrew Baron appealed to the meeting for volunteers to come forward to help with a recruitment drive, to improve membership numbers generally and build density in areas we do not currently have many members. He noted that over 60 valued and loyal members have left the university in the last redundancy exercises, so we need to keep recruiting new colleagues to maintain our strength.
Finally, under AOB, members spoke about anticipatory adjustments, particularly with reference to students being told they can make their own recordings of teaching sessions if they like. Members expressed concern that other students were not consenting to being recorded, and it is not clear how students are being told what uses of the recordings are permissible, how long they can be kept for, and what might happen if they breach the rules. The Branch Committee undertook to look into this, and we will report back in a future Bulletin.
Academic Appraisals
Management have been attempting to replace the old Academic Appraisal form, which had been agreed with UCU, with a new, radically different Academic Appraisal form, which until last week UCU had not been consulted on and which is in many respects highly problematic. UCU are currently in negotiations with Management to rectify these problems. In the meantime, we advise members to decline to use the Academic Appraisal form and not to accept the form’s redefinitions of standard academic roles. Do continue to engage with the appraisal process as usual; just do so without acquiescing in the use of the appraisal form, for the time being. If you get pushback from your line manager, contact UCU for support. If you have a non-line manager Delegated Appraiser, you should not get pushback from them, because it is their duty to step out of the appraisal process on any contentious matter and refer it to the line manager; but if you do get pushback from the Delegated Appraiser, then they are failing to properly execute their Delegated Appraiser role, and UCU advice in such a situation is to communicate about appraisal only with your line manager.
Health & Safety
Members are reminded that the Branch has three Health & Safety Reps, Cath Sullivan, Danila Datti, and Dougie Martin. If you have any concerns about health, safety, wellbeing or sustainability in your workplace, please let us know by writing to ucu@lancashire.ac.uk
Recruitment Drive – Help Needed
The new academic year brings many challenges, as the Bulletin above amply demonstrates. UCU can fight these challenges only when we are strong, with large numbers of members and good density of membership in all departments. Unfortunately, many valued colleagues left the University this summer after the latest round of redundancies, so we need a recruitment drive to build membership back up. We need as many members as possible to speak to the non-members in their schools and services. If you would be willing to help with this, please email us or contact Andrew Baron, our recruitment lead, on abaron@lancashire.ac.uk. We will give you a short list of names, and some hints and tips about what to say!
Lancashire UCU Branch Committee