UCU were forced into calling strike action to defend staff working conditions at UEL after the UEL management team failed to agree to UCU’s justifiable amendments to the UEL workload document. UCU’s position is that 1) the notional 1548 hours that members are required to work should not be increased to 1650; 2) changes to working conditions outside of the norm for a member of staff should be mutually agreed by the staff member and the line manager; 3) there should be an indication of what elements fit into each category of the new workload load model; 4) a reasonable amount of scholarly activity time must be allocated within the model; and 5) the entire workload document, once agreed, can only be changed with agreement by both parties. The full letter from the Branch chair to members is given below:
UCU Serves Notice of Strike Action at UEL
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you to all those members who made it to the meeting yesterday and thank you to those who couldn’t attend but e-mailed messages of support; it was an excellent response at such short notice with the meeting expressing overwhelming support for the negotiating committee position circulated to members beforehand.
To report on the negotiations following the branch meeting:
UCU negotiators (Jacqui, myself, UCU National Head of HE Michael McNeil, and regional official Greg Barnett) met with the Vice Chancellor and HR Director at 4:30 yesterday. The meeting focused exclusively on the issue of workload and we outlined the following issues and indicated that there needed to be movement from management on these before we could take a proposal back to our members for their acceptance or rejection.
These were:
· Overall hours: If the annual hours total is notional, why is it necessary to increase the figure? We argued that the figure of 1650, currently proposed by management, stems from a research council formula that does not accord with the contractual working year at UEL and peer institutions; we asked management to consider alternative lower figures based on the UEL working year and contractual expectations at similar institutions. We argued that the current proposal of 1650 hours signals to an already dedicated academic workforce, the majority of whom work beyond the nominal hours anyway, that management wished to increase their working hours still further.
· The tone of the workload document would be more positive with the removal of implicitly negative statements and unnecessary qualifiers that undermine the aim of establishing workloads via mutual agreement. One example in particular was the use of the term ideally with regard to the aim of mutually agreeing workloads. We pointed out that this was unnecessary as the aim of reaching agreement was a desirable one and that the document includes provisions for dealing with disagreement if it should arise.
· Whilst not requiring a wide spectrum and detailed set of tariffs, minimally we required there to be baseline indicators for Teaching Related Activity and Teaching Related Admin (e.g. Marking and Programme Leadership)
· If scholarly activity remains within the workload category of ‘Research, Knowledge Exchange and Scholarly Related Activity’ then the minimum of this range would need to be increased. We have argued that 11% would be consistent with the UEL academic contract and would provide necessary self-managed time for academic staff to undertake their necessary scholarly activity.
· Transparency and Comparability. How will this workload scheme be put into practice? Will it, for example, be implemented using spread sheets or dedicated computer software? Whatever the form or media, some detail is needed to demonstrate the way in which workloads have been derived, in order for colleagues to make meaningful comparisons between themselves and their colleagues. Even if allocations vary between Schools there would be no reason for that not to be transparent.
· Finally the status of any agreed process is significant. We are clear that any future variation must be by negotiated agreement; otherwise any agreement now is fundamentally undermined.
Management side expressed disappointment that UCU had not offered further movement over these issues, and we pointed-out that the UCU position has moved considerably in the course of the negotiations in order to seek a compromise position and achieve a settlement; management agreed to consider the issues outlined by UCU and respond.
The meeting ended without agreement. It was made clear to the VC and HR Director that whilst UCU remains willing to meet to seek agreement, we are now in the position where the union nationally has authorised further industrial action. We would reflect on the discussion but in the absence of movement from management, and in view of the prolonged and protracted negotiations so far, it was likely that the union would move to strike action.
In light of the lack of agreement yesterday and following the very clear mandate from UCU members at UEL, it is with regret that we have today served notice on UEL management that UCU will be calling on members at UEL to strike on Thursday 18 October 2012. We have also given notice of two further days of strike action on Tuesday 23 and Monday 29 October. We remain available to meet management and consider any positive proposals from them, but at this point strike action is necessary to emphasise the seriousness of this dispute and the need to reach negotiated agreement on all issues of dispute.
It is now essential that all UCU members at UEL rally to support this strike action. You can be assured that your negotiators will continue to seek a settlement, up to the point of strike action – and beyond if necessary – and while that is happening it is more important than at any point in the dispute so far that members support the union position and strike on 18 October.
This is the first time in memory that UCU members at UEL have taken strike action in a local dispute and it is regrettable that this is necessary now, but the more effective the support for the action, the greater the chance of resolving this dispute quickly.
You will shortly be receiving further details of picket lines on the 18th – please make sure that you sign-up for your turn on the picket and encourage colleagues to do the same.
For and on behalf of the UCU Negotiating Committee
University and College Union UCU