Branch votes to reject latest ‘four fights’ offer

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

An emergency meeting of the branch was help today to establish the branch’s position on the employers’ offer on casualisation, equal pay, workloads and pay (the ‘four fights’ dispute) and on the latest developments in the USS pensions dispute. The meeting is to let our delegates know how to vote on our behalf at a meeting of branch delegates on Tuesday (26 May), ahead of the UCU higher education committee meeting on 27 May. (For more details see Your feedback on next-steps in the ‘Four Fights’ and USS disputes)

No formal vote was taken on the USS pensions dispute, so our delegate will try to vote with the contributions made in mind.

On the ‘four fights’ dispute, members passed the following motion:

Motion 1

This branch rejects the latest ‘offer’ in the 4 fights dispute.

We don’t believe that sufficient progress has been made on any of the key issues in the dispute in the light of the developing crisis in the sector.

Accepting an ‘offer’ that does not give sufficient guarantees to women members on the gender pay gap, BAME members on the race pay gap and to our casualised staff and includes no movement on pay would be to let down the tens of thousands of members who joined our picket lines for 22 days.

This is especially true in regards women/BAME and casualised staff, who were at the forefront of the strikes.

We reject the idea of ‘banking’ inadequate progress.

An acceptance will only be seen as a sign of weakness by employers and encourage further attacks at this critical moment.

We call on members to reject the offer outright.

four fights one voice

Your feedback on next steps in the ‘Four Fights’ and USS disputes

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by 
Email sent to branch members 20 May 2020

I’m writing with some further information about the two disputes – the reports from the UCU negotiating teams.  Please read these if you possibly can before our emergency general meeting 1pm Friday where we will discuss the disputes and elect a delegate to take the branch views to a branch delegates meeting next week which will inform the union’s Higher Education Committee (HEC).  The HEC will then take a decision on what the union will do in each dispute, including whether to put the employers’ offer on the Four Fights to a membership ballot, and about balloting for further industrial action.  The current position is that the union will re-ballot on both disputes, starting at the end of June or as soon as practically possible thereafter, and ending in September.  HEC can decide to continue the ballots as planned or to cancel, postpone or otherwise alter them.

USS pension justice. We demand it. Image of two raised fists, blue and white, pink background.

Our negotiators have worked incredibly hard for many months on both disputes and their statements are crucial to these discussions. Our industrial action has pushed the employers to improve on their original offer on the Four Fights, particularly on casualisation and workload, but falls short of what we hoped to achieve, particularly on pay.  Issues for us to discuss include whether we think this offer should go to a ballot now, and what should the union seek to negotiate over in the next ‘pay and related issues’ bargaining round which starts soon.  On USS, there are encouraging signs of better co-operation from the employers, but no indication that our contribution level will go back to 8% (“no detriment”).  For both disputes, we need to discuss whether/how we think further industrial action could be effective, whether we think we could pass the 50% turnout threshold on a ballot over the summer, and whether we think reballoting should continue as planned, be postponed or be cancelled.

I hope you can join us at the Emergency General Meeting (EGM) to discuss this on Friday. Committee members are attending UCU briefings on both disputes to find out more, today and tomorrow, and will be reporting on these briefings to Friday’s EGM.

We have previously elected 5 delegates to Congress (which would have been next week but is of course postponed – the number of delegates is based on branch sizes). At Friday’s EGM we will elect one delegate to attend each of the branch delegate meetings.  The delegates could be our Congress delegates, but other members could also volunteer for this.  Please let me know by 12 noon on Friday if you would like to volunteer.  If there is more than one person offering for either or both delegate meetings, we will hold an election during the EGM using a Poll on Blackboard Collaborate.  Both the branch delegates meetings are on Tuesday 26th May (unfortunately this is a university closure day) and last for two hours.  They will be run using Microsoft Teams.

– Four Fights branch delegate meeting 10:00 to 12:00

– USS branch delegate meeting 13:30 to 15:30

I will send a further email on Friday with the link to our online EGM.

Minutes of general meeting 28 April 2020

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by 
In the event of difference between the web version and the minutes agreed at the branch general meeting 14 May, the latter is the correct version. (Formatting is the most likely difference.)

General meeting

Tuesday 28 April 2020, 1pm – 2pm
Video meeting

Minutes

Chaired by branch president Ben Plumpton

Agreed to restrict speeches to 3 minutes for movers and 2 for debate.

Minutes of the previous meetings

7 November 2019 EGM. Minutes agreed.

22 January 2020 EGM. Minutes agreed.

2 March general meeting. Minutes agreed.

Local update

Update on local discussions with university senior management. We are meeting with HR regularly. We’re concerned about how frequently we’re being informed about decisions rather than being consulted on them. We’re not being involved in the decisions of the university executive group (UEG) – we’re being frozen out of decisions about how the university proceeds. Fixed term contracts is a priority – we’ve asked for extensions for all staff. The university made a minor extension to the end of May for most but we are trying to impress upon them the urgency of extensions for all staff as soon as possible particularly while the job market is frozen. There has been confirmation about how furlough will apply to universities, which is being worked through – the government says the scheme doesn’t apply where there is public funding. They have confirmed they will top up the government’s 80% of salary to 100% for furloughed staff. They are still exploring which staff can be furloughed. We’re asking them to pay for visa extensions and NHS surcharges.

On working from home, many staff are unable to do a full day’s work. HR are supportive face to face but haven’t changed the guidance to be as supportive as it should be. We’re pushing for better support and equipment for everyone, especially those needing reasonable adjustments. The University is treating is as temporary. Our advice is if it’s not safe stop and contact us. University has issued survey – we had no involvement or consultation – there are no demographic or equality questions. We have done our own survey which is better and in more depth so we can make more use of the data.

Sprung on us last week was that the university would like to introduce a new lecture capture policy. We are being consulted we have many concerns we will be circulating a draft.

We need everyone who has influence to use it however they can – officers and committee are working very hard, let’s all work together and make our presence felt.

Get in touch with us if things are happening. Decisions are being made at UEG and a lot of things are being worked out are school and faculty level.

National update

UCU Congress was due to happen in May but has had to be postponed due to coronavirus and we don’t yet know what alternative arrangements will be made.  UCU’s UK committees are continuing to meet electronically.

Negotiations on the ‘Four Fights’ and USS disputes are continuing.  Further information is expected soon about the next steps, including a mechanism for branches to feed into the Higher Education Committee on these disputes.

Motion 1: Securing staff on casualised contracts

Casualised workers make up approximately 70% of researchers nationally in HE, and between 25-30% of the teaching staff in many universities. Like everybody, casualised university workers are struggling with the global crisis brought on by COVID-19, and are particularly likely to see our contracts terminate (while our Vice Chancellors are continuing to pay themselves salaries of £253,000 on average — many much more — from taxpayer money). There is no indication that this pandemic will be over any time soon, and some estimates suggest it could affect us up to 18 months or longer, which will take us through the next academic year at least. This does not even reflect longer-term economic impacts beyond the immediate tragedy of the pandemic itself. While this crisis continues, casualised staff members across the university — often the lowest paid on campus — must not be forgotten, and should receive guaranteed income along with permanent staff.

This branch recognises:

  • that universities have already agreed to address casualisation due to the inordinate amount of suffering it causes, which will only be intensified by COVID-19
  • that casualised staff whose contracts are ending will find it almost impossible to secure employment during a global pandemic, especially when university hiring is expected to freeze. This impacts international staff disproportionately whose immigration status are tied to their employment status. International staff face the threat of ‘legal limbo’ which is compounded by “No recourse to public funds”.
  • that casually employed university workers (including hourly staff, fixed-term staff, and PhD students/GTAs) perform crucial, often poorly compensated, work, and deserve the same security as permanent colleagues, including contract renewals, extensions, or continued pay for the duration of the crisis
  • that departments are going to need increased capacity as a result of the crisis, given potential illness of colleagues and the switch to remote working, making the work done by casualised staff even more essential
  • This branch therefore demands an immediate contractual guarantee of two years of work at or above the current level of remuneration, for all casualised university staff.

This branch resolves to:

  • Call on members to support the @CoronaContracts campaign and to sign the national open letter on casual contracts: https://coronacontract.org
  • Call on our University to support the principle of guaranteed employment for two years for all casualised staff and, if necessary, to seek to apply the government’s job retention scheme to all eligible precarious staff, which must be topped up by our University to cover 100% of wages
  • Call on our university to support the welfare of research staff on fixed term contracts who are funded by external research bodies. Where any projects are adversely affected, the university should work with research bodies in order to ensure any/all extensions are funded and any/all gaps in income are covered
  • Call on our University to enter into full and open consultation on any proposed redundancies, including redeploying staff instead of terminating them, and to confirm that staff on fixed term contracts will not be discriminated against or automatically dismissed and support international staff on visa extensions and renewals
  • Call for protections for postgraduate students including extensions of scholarships, protections around access to paid work, suspension of fees for self-funded students and students in their fourth year of study, and to suspend deadlines and annual reviews

Moved by Arunima Bhattacharya. Seconded by Steven French. Carried.

Motion 2

This branch notes:

That COVID-19 has created a significant crisis in Higher Education, with reports that Universities are likely to be very badly hit financially;

That the core reason for this is the current HE funding model which makes university funding largely dependent on student fees, and a consequent strategic approach taken by institutions such as Leeds which creates high dependence on international student fees specifically;

That there is a legitimate concern that universities, including the University of Leeds, will try to impose job cuts and major restructures under the guise of emergency COVID-19 planning

That the most vulnerable staff, particularly staff on casualised contracts, on visas, and with disabilities, caring responsibilities and mental health, are those most likely to be impacted by badly thought- through responses to the crisis;

That Durham University is reported already to be planning wholesale moves towards online teaching as a response to COVID-19, which is unworkable in terms of staff expertise and workload; is pedagogically undesirable and is very likely to be an insufficient response to the challenges posted;

This branch:

  • Urges the University to engage in meaningful consultation with campus trades unions about the University’s response to the COVID-19 crisis
  • Resolves robustly to defend jobs and working conditions throughout the crisis and beyond
  • Resolves in particular to resist any strategic or organisational changes, in particular to modes of teaching, which are not wholly justified by the emergency measures required to respond to the COVID-19 crisis
  • Agrees to send a message of solidarity and support to Durham University UCU in fighting off deleterious management plans
  • Request that the university open their books in good faith (in case of threat of redundancies or pay cuts) and to mitigate against job losses. Including an account of current and future investments and what is planned, re buildings etc and details around governance restrictions on reserves.

Moved by Chloe Wallace. Seconded by Adam Booth. Amendment moved by Kate Hardy agreed. Motion as text above carried.

Motion 3

“Leeds University UCU notes the detailed equality and mutual dignity policies attached and linked below.

The University however, breaches its own policies by setting non-binary trans staff up to be dead named by the university and their colleagues through its failure to provide gender choices beyond female/male.

We note that dead naming is not a theoretical policy, it is currently happening to staff in this university.

We note that the University has systems that do not link properly; thus deadnames remain in the systems. Deadnaming is an act of violence.

This branch insists that the following choices are offered to all staff.

Female / Gender Fluid / Male / Non-Binary / Other (If Other is picked, no further definition is requested.)

We further note that the university states that its guidance on trans staff is ‘under review’. We are unaware that staff unions have been involved or informed of this review of policies which form part of our terms and conditions of service.”

University policies: https://equality.leeds.ac.uk/equality-inclusion-framework/policies/

https://equality.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2020/04/Trans-equality-policy-statement_Final_v1.pdf

https://equality.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2020/04/Guidance-for-Trans-Staff-and-Students-FINAL-v1.pdf

Moved by Megan Povey. Megan’s amendment proposed by Simon Joyce, seconded by Alan Roe, carried. Motion as text above carried.

Motion 4: Home working cost reimbursement

The government website indicates an amount of £26 per month that employers can pay to employees working from home (without paperwork to account for the extra electricity etc). https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32815   . Leeds University UCU demands that the UoL does this for all staff with effect from 23 March 2020. 

Proposed by Lesley McGorrigan, seconded by Alan Roe. Carried

Motion 5: Carrying over annual leave

Leeds UCU demands that the UoL agrees for staff to carry over annual leave not taken during covid-crisis to the next two years, as outlined on this Government documents for some workers: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rules-on-carrying-over-annual-leave-to-be-relaxed-to-support-key-industries-during-covid-19

Proposed by Lesley McGorrigan, seconded by Alan Roe. Carried.

Any other urgent business (please notify the president before the start of the meeting)

Action short of a strike ends today.

Reminder to fill in branch survey.

If members wish to raise any matters arising from previous meeting at the next general meeting, please could they email ucu@leeds.ac.uk to let the president know.

Fixed term contracts – awaiting an answer on extension/renewal

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

UCU is calling for all contracts due to finish during the crisis period to be extended at least until recruitment starts again in the sector. Otherwise the university will be making people unemployed when it is almost impossible for them get a new job. We think all universities across the sector need to step up and do this.

UCU reps raised this issue with senior HR managers on 1 April. They told us the university is involved in discussions at a national level with UKRI about securing research funding and with the government about whether universities can apply to the government’s Covid-19 Job Retention Scheme (“furloughing”).

It is clear the university considers getting this funding will be a major factor in how it can respond on staffing issues. HR told UCU reps that if they hope to get a response to us in a few days. There are also of course many research staff not funded by the UK research councils, and many teaching and other staff on fixed term contracts due to end later in the year when the government furlough period may have ended.

We believe the university has a moral responsibility to support its casualised staff, many of whom have been working enormously hard to move everything online.

We will keep you informed.

The start of constructive progress on Covid-19-related issues

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Text of email from Ben Plumpton to members 27 March 2020

Hello everyone,

Many of you will have been working at home for a week or longer. These are challenging times, and you might feel you are struggling with too much to do, juggling different responsibilities, health issues, practical problems or mental health. Many of us are caring for children or other family members, and that needs to be the priority. Try not to let work get you down, do what you can, and be kind to yourself.  I hope that we as union members can support each other with some of this, and that our solidarity can help us to feel less alone and less worried.  If there is anything you think the union could help with please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

1. Welcoming the start of constructive progress on Covid-19-related issues

On Wednesday 25 March we had a more productive meeting with university HR managers which indicated that the university senior management is starting to listen to some of the serious issues staff have been raising through UCU, Unison and Unite unions and through their managers.

There is a lot still where the decisions are yet to be made, which is understandable given the fast-moving situation, but we have moved on from the ridiculous situation last week where the senior management was refusing to stop teaching face to face, suggesting our reps were motivated by emotion not science, and saying they were too busy to consult trade unions on decisions.  We now seem to have a shared aim of trying to get things sorted out as well as possible.

We hope things will continue to improve as senior management recognise the hard work and good will staff are demonstrating in working hard to support students and the university, despite the absolute refusal to spread or waive the strike deductions as other more progressive universities have done.

*** Important: The university’s coronavirus page, and the Staff FAQs page on that site, are updated frequently. Some of this email could be out of date by the time you read it, so please check the site if you have specific issues or queries.

2. Workload and work-life balance

After the mistake of insisting people move straight to online teaching and work with no break for people to learn new systems and prepare their materials for the new format, and some initial bad messaging, the “Staff FAQs” page has been updated to include, under the section about school closures: “We know that for those of you with children or other caring responsibilities this is a daily balancing act and you’re unlikely to be able to work exactly as you would from campus” and “What is key is that you work as best you can in your individual circumstances and that your line manager supports you to do your best, allowing for the fact that we’re all unlikely to be able to work exactly as we would from campus.”

HR senior management have been clear with us that this should not be interpreted to mean staff with children are expected to fit in our normal workload in the evening when we’ve finished the home schooling and childcare. It should be interpreted to mean we’re unlikely to be able to do the same amount of work as we would on campus. We recommend members have those discussions with their line managers, heads of schools or services on the basis that the university’s expectation is we will do what work we can in the circumstances.

We expect the same consideration for staff with other caring responsibilities, and also that managers should take into account practical issues affecting work such as bad internet connections, longer preparation time because of the new format, or needing to take regular long breaks because of not having proper office equipment or setup.

It is our understanding from HR that the university senior management approves this sort of practical, pragmatic approach to the current situation. So if your line manager or head of school or service is not taking that approach, please contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk so that we can talk you through the options of what to do next.  It’s likely that we’ll need to contact HR, but we can work out with you whether it’s best to do this anonymously (for example, if a manager appears to be treating a whole team unfairly) or whether it is something that is just affecting you.

We are hearing reports of school and service leadership showing real compassion and flexibility and working very hard themselves to support staff and students, and we thank them.

3. AAMs, SRDS and other non-essential meetings

We have asked for non-essential meetings such as AAMs and SRDS to be postponed for the time being. We’re waiting for a response from senior management.

4. Mental health support

The university has told us they’ve put additional resource into staff counselling, which is very welcome. The best way to arrange an appointment is to email staffcounselling@leeds.ac.uk.

The service also has a page of online resources with Covid-19 situation in mind at wsh.leeds.ac.uk/info/134/staff_counselling_and_psychological_support

As an alternative, UCU members can contact Education Support day or night to talk, for advice, and to arrange telephone counselling appointments.

5. If you become ill

You no longer need to provide a doctor’s note (‘fit note’) but you should fill in a return to work form when you are well enough to work again. See https://coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk/staff-advice/staff-frequently-asked-questions/#ill_with_symptoms

6. IT equipment

IT staff are working incredibly hard to support the move to home working, and we are most grateful. They are arranging to get as many laptops and PCs as they can to staff who need one and don’t have one at home. These are being prioritised to begin with according to whether people are essential to keep the students living on campus safe, payroll running, and other essential roles. If you don’t have suitable equipment you need to speak to your line manager or head of school or service in the first instance. (You can’t be expected to do the work if you don’t have the equipment.)

7. Volunteering

The campus trade unions asked for the university to allow staff to volunteer for the NHS or in the community. We’re pleased to say that this is now agreed, see https://coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk/volunteering/ (you will need the agreement of your Head of School or Service).

8. Fixed-term contracts

Recruitment across the HE sector is grinding to a halt, so making anyone redundant now is very likely putting them into poverty. We have asked if all fixed-term contracts can be continued until recruitment resumes in the sector.

UCU has asked UKRI to alter deadlines and relax reporting rules, and amend funding, in order to support fixed term and early career staff. We understand many HE institutions including Leeds are also contacting UKRI about this.

9. Strike deductions and Strike Fund/Hardship Fund claims

March payslips are now online, accessed either via Desktop Anywhere and then browse to ESS at https://selfservice.mais.leeds.ac.uk/, or directly by using the Self Service icon on https://access.leeds.ac.uk/ before you go into Desktop Anywhere. If you get an error message, that’s because there are still capacity issues – the best times to try are early morning or late afternoon. As expected, for most staff the strike deductions have all come out in March. If you were unable to report your strike action before 20 March, then some of the deductions will come out in April. If you haven’t yet been able to report (e.g. if you were on holiday or sick or had connection problems), and if you can’t access ESS now, then email industrialaction@leeds.ac.uk and a helpful person from HR will get back to you.

Please claim to the UCU Strike fund and our local Hardship Fund if you need to. Full information at http://www.leedsucu.org.uk/hardship-applications-and-surgeries/, including a claim form to download for our local Hardship Fund, plus a link to the national Strike Fund claims web pages. If you didn’t claim for the November/December strike action and now wish you had, you can still apply. Both nationally and locally we will be processing applications as quickly as we can. NB If you took strike action in November/December and also in February/March, for the second period you can claim from day 1. If you have any queries after checking the above web pages, please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

10. Visas

The Home Office has announced that visas can be extended (to 31 May) for those currently unable to return home at the end of their visa due to COVID-19. See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/visas-extended-for-those-currently-unable-to-return-home-due-to-covid-19 In light of the current advice on self-isolation and social distancing, the Home Office is also waiving attendance requirements, so that sponsors such as universities don’t need to report absences from students or employees sponsored under Tier 2, Tier 4, or Tier 5, where those absences have been the result of the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.

11. REF

We understand that REF2021 has been put on hold until further notice. This means the November submission deadline will no longer apply, although the REF staff census date (31 July 2020) remains unchanged. See https://www.ref.ac.uk/publications/further-update-on-coronavirus-covid-19-and-ref-timetable/

12. Some practical tips

Here are a few of the ideas UCU committee have found useful about working from home.  Feel free to use, adapt or ignore!

  • Keep your to-do list flexible. With increased reasons for anxiety, and friends and family in need of support, we can only do so much.
  • It can be helpful to switch off work notifications outside of your working hours (eg emails, Teams – see how to do this for Teams), and perhaps to shut down your work device when you’re not working rather than leaving it on and ‘seeing’ work constantly.
  • Don’t feel pressure to respond to emails at all hours because your manager or colleagues are working then. If your work pattern means you work at unusual hours, you can save emails as drafts and send them later, or if you are using Outlook software you can usually schedule an email to be sent at a later time.
  • It’s extra important to take breaks if you haven’t got a proper office-style setup at home. Move regularly! It can be hard to make yourself stop (I am rubbish at this…) but it helps to avoid backache etc.
  • A lot of online meetings (Teams, Zoom etc) can be a strain on the eyes. When you aren’t speaking, you can listen in with your microphone and camera off whilst focusing on something else (looking out of the window, a pet, knitting etc).
  • You could use online groups from strike days (eg WhatsApp, Facebook) to keep in touch and support each other, or set up online tea breaks with friends.

13. Finally

If you have a teaching role, or have been working flat out to get things ready for everyone working off campus, I hope things calm down a bit soon. I know so many of our members have been working incredibly hard – your committment to students and colleagues has been fantastic. Official advice from your union (!): it’s important to look after yourself as well as everything else. It’s OK to slow down, and it’s OK to tune out when you need to.

If you or a friend or relative is or has been unwell, I hope you or they make a swift and full recovery.

Best wishes for the weekend and the weeks ahead,

In solidarity,

Ben Plumpton

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

University of Leeds UCU President