Author Archives: heriotwatt

A wonderful sunny Wednesday morning with Val Walker

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Left to right: Marion, Val, Caroline, and Ruth. John and George at the back. Where did Zippy go?

We were delighted to welcome Val Walker to the picket today. Val is the Scottish Labour candidate for Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart ward in the Edinburgh City Council Elections on May 5th, 2022. If elected, Val will be working on behalf of communities that span Fountainbridge where she has lived for 20 years, Shandon, Craiglockhart, and Chesser.

Plenty of chat about community issues and local democracy but it didn’t take long before we got onto the state of the roads. Sorry Val!

Along with the restoration of essential front-line services hit by cuts, Val is pledging to work on getting the basics right: The condition of the roads and pavements, ensuring safety for pedestrians and cyclists while also taking the views of local residents who need access and parking into account, and the provision and maintenance of safe public spaces for everyone. The sort of issues which anyone who regularly cycles or walks into campus via the South West corridor or Union Canal, particularly through the dark winter months, will be familiar with. On the environment, Val told us of her commitment to protect and enhance our green spaces, and the drive to ensure that the Council’s ambitious net zero carbon reduction targets are met by 2030. Gets my vote.

S’mores get my vote too. A breakfast of melted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two lotus biscuits. Nice one Krissy. I’d never heard of them before today. I’m going to have to try a triple decker now.

Local Council Elections

The election is due to take place on Thursday 5 may 2022.

Did you know?

  • Students can register at both of their term-time and home addresses but can only vote once in a particular election.
  • All foreign citizens, resident in Scotland, who have permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who do not need such permission, can vote at Scottish Parliament elections and Local Council elections.
  • 16 and 17 year olds, resident in Scotland, can vote at Scottish Parliament elections and Local Council elections.

To vote in the elections you need to be registered to vote.

You can register online at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

The deadline for applications to register to vote in the Local Council elections is midnight on Monday 18 April 2022. If you have already received your poll card you do not need to register again.

Postal vote applications must be submitted to the Electoral Registration Officer no later than 5pm on Tuesday 19 April 2022. To find out more and register to vote by post visit https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/apply-vote-post

Further information

For further information on registering to vote, or for advice on postal or proxy voting please contact our office using the details below.

Gary Elliott
Electoral Registration Officer
17A South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh
EH12 9FL

Email: enquiries@lothian-vjb.gov.uk
Phone: 0131 344 2500
Website: https://www.lothian-vjb.gov.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ERO_lothianvjb

Our picket is the place to be for breakfast

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Janet Farrar (UCU) and Richard Leonard MSP

This morning we welcomed Richard Leonard MSP and Janet Farrar from the UCU. On the menu: sausages, eggs, tatty scones, and some great craic with our new friends.

Richard, a long-time trade unionist and former leader of the Scottish Labour Party was once described by comic book author Mark Millar as “the most exciting thing to happen up here in decades”. A man ahead of his time Richard has long advocated nationalising the scottish rail network and providing free public transport. Ideas subsquently adopted by the Scottish Government.

Honoured to stand in solidarity with Heriot-Watt UCU branch and Janet Farrar this morning. All UCU members have my 100% backing in ther fight to stop this pensions robbery. – Richard Leonard, MSP

Janet is President Elect of the UCU, taking over from Vicky Blake after Congress in June. She lectures in a Trade Union Education unit at Manchester College and has extensive experience across a full range of union roles at local, regional, and national level. Janet has first hand experience of life on precarious contracts and juggling excessive workloads, and she is passionately committed to tackling inequalities and supporting members who are exeperiencing stress as a result of bullying and harassment.

Thanks so much for a lovely welcome at a cracking branch – Janet Farrar, UCU President Elect

A big thank-you to @LabourRichard and @janetfarrarUCU. It was great to see you both. A visit to the pickets always boosts morale and we are particularly grateful to Richard for raising our concerns and dispute in the Scottish Parliament.

Switching now from national to local, we hope to be meeting Val Walker tomorrow (Wednesday). Val is the Scottish Labour Candidate for the Fountainbridge Craighlockhart ward in the Edinburgh City Council Elections. Many of our staff and students here at HWU live in this ward, so this is a great opportunity to meet Val and find out a little bit more about her pledges on everything from roads and transport to greenspace and net-zero targets.

No word yet on what culinary delights will be served up but we hope to see you all there.

P.S. Don’t forget to complete your ballot and return in the pre-paid envelope. If you haven’t received yours yet, watch for an email from UCU with a link for ordering replacements from Wednesday.

A big turnout of staff and students for the start of the third wave of strike action

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Day 11 and a big turnout for the start of the third wave of strike action

We were joined today by Des Loughney of the Edinburgh Trade Union Council (ETUC) and students from HWU Student Union for the start of the third wave of strike action in the USS pension and 4-Fights disputes.

The ETUC has been in existence since 1853 when as the Edinburgh & District Trades Council it campaigned for workers in Edinburgh to get a half day off on Saturdays.

Continuing in this proud tradition a motion to support the UCU disputes was recently passed by the Student Union. HWU students will be joining staff on picket lines to show that they stand in solidarity with the UCU, and signing the NUS open letter to UUK and UCEA executives.

Staff deserve to be paid fairly for their work. They deserve contracts that guarantee them a stable job, and workloads that are manageable. Women, disabled staff and staff of colour deserve pay parity with their counterparts.

Why you should be on strike

Our employer’s have forced through pension cuts which will see reductions of up to 35% in the retirement income guaranteed to a typical member. We want our employers to stop these unecessary cuts and re-enter negotiations. We also want our employers to stop using zero-hours casual contracts and work with us to tackle unmanageable workloads and end race, gender, and disability pay gaps.

Our employers can afford to do all of this but they are choosing instead to squeeze staff and make students suffer.

 

Please return your ballot. It matters.

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I have posted mine. Have you posted yours?

Trade Union laws require us to reballot every 6 months, so we are in ballot again to extend the existing mandate for another 6 months.

When your ballot papers for the USS Pension and 4-Fight disputes arrives, please complete the forms as soon as possible and then return in the pre-paid envelope provided. Not voting deprives your colleagues of a voice because we are required to receive replies from at least 50% of members for the result to count. It is important that you return your ballot whichever way you vote.

We will be in touch by email to ask if members have voted, but not how they have voted.  If you did not receive your ballot papers please let us know.

Replacement voting packs can now be requested via the form at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/Four-Fights-and-USS-re-ballots-replacement-request-form-March-April-2022, and you will need a note of your membership number.

This ballot matters to UCU

UCEA and UUK, have lied and spread misinformation throughout this dispute. they have been intractable and have refused to consider UCU proposals. They are giving every indication that they want to break the unions so they can make whatever cuts they like from now on. Only a strong mandate can bring them back to the table and show them we are not allowing them to side-line our concerns and cut our pensions year after year.

This ballot matters to HW UCU

It is less than two years since our own employer tried to make many of us redundant. A strong mandate reminds them that if they come for us we will stand up. It also helps us to negotiate locally on the issues that matter to us, like H&S, workloads, and it also underpins the work we do for individual members in casework. We are a strong branch.

This ballot matters to you

UUK have voted through cuts to USS pensions that means at the very least USS members will lose 1/8th of future pension accrual but you get to pay 0.2% more for it. If inflation rises above 2.5% you will lose more – even a modest average inflation rate of 2.8% can wipe a 6th of the value of your future defined benefit pension out over 20 years- that’s right, you could lose up to 1/6th of your annual income between when you retire at 67 and the age of 87. Even more if inflation is higher. The less time you have spent in HE the more this will affect you. Not fair!

Not only that. An employee coming into HE now at grade 7 is paid the equivalent of grade 6 ten years ago. Once you hit the top of your grade your pay goes down year after year. UCEA themselves in 2019, said we have lost 17% of our pay in real terms. Since then we have had a 0% pay rise and last year’s 1.5%. Inflation is now rising rapidly. Without a strong mandate UCEA will make another paltry offer this year.

The gender pay gap at HWU is 20%. Since many staff have left without being replaced, workloads, that were already high are becoming more and more unmanageable.

New to the branch?

You should still vote.

Not in USS?

You should still vote in both ballots.

Not in the UCU?

It is never too late to join the UCU. You do not have to be a member of a union to take part in industrial action and had have your voice heard, but it is advisable. Being part of a recognised collective bargaining group comes with benefits and protections.

It only takes a few minutes to join the UCU, it doesn’t cost much, and your subscription will be eligible for tax relief.

Please return your ballot. It matters.

We will be on strike from 21-25 March 2022

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Strike means 100% withdrawal of labour so unless you are on leave, unpaid sabbatical, or between contracts of employment please join us in the fight for pension rights, pay, and better terms and conditions of employment.

If you don’t strike you will lose up to 35% of the income accrued in your USS pension between now and retirement. If you don’t strike you won’t see a pay rise for at least another year. If you don’t strike nothing will be done to tackle the issues of workload, equality, job security.

There will be a picket at the main entrance each morning from 8.30 to 10.30am. Pets and children are very much welcome, and the weather forecast for next week looks unusually good with little chance of rain.

Recording strike action

Recording your strike days allows payroll to process deductions and it also shows the university the extent of our action, so please do this. You do not have to declare your intention to take strike action before you take it but you need to record strike action afterwards, and you should to this via ERP so that the information only goes to payroll.

Financial help

You can claim from both the national and local hardship funds if you need help to cover the cost of striking. We would much prefer members considered this option rather than not striking for financial reasons.

Further details, including illustrations, can be found on our cost of striking and strike pay web page. The net loss of pay is often lower than expected.

 

Strength in numbers: External Examiner Resignations

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External examiners up and down the country are refusing to do extra work and resigning.

You can view the full list of all resignations so far at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aAKdIFXw5Pvguxmk3XEUQZxjv0iz7PZkVs59WWj9mi4/

To register a new resignation please complete the External Examiner Resignations form. To notify of an invitation declined please complete the Refused Invitations: External Examiner Roles form.

For more information please check out the Twitter campaign.

Could you be a university Vice Chancellor?

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Take our senior leadership exam and find out. Answer 2 questions from 5 in 2 hours. Each question is worth 100 marks. Provide evidence where relevant.

  1. You are a senior leader within a university, your staff report they are working 60 hours a week, and you pay audit reveals women are earning 19% less than men, and disabled people are earning 34% less than non-disabled colleagues. Critically evaluate the extent to which this supports staff well-being.
  2. Critically assess the evidence base for workplace well-being interventions such as work-life balance seminars and visits by alpacas.
  3. Your staff survey shows that pay has fallen in real terms by 20% in the last 10 years, while house prices in the last year have increased by 8.8%, and that approximately 60% of key work is delivered by people on precarious contracts. To what extend does this information help to address the ongoing difficulties your organisation has in attracting and retaining world leading scientists
  4. To what extent is a projected 35% cut in pension reflective of socially responsible human resource management?
  5. The student experience is well-served by a workforce which is exhausted, underpaid, and overworked. Drawing in relevant evidence, critically evaluate this statement.

3 weeks to save university pensions, and save the planet

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In August last year over 1700 other people raised more than £50,000 to fund a legal action against the USS directors via Crowdjustice.

The case was presented by a barrister at an initial oral hearing at the High Court on 28 February and the judge ruled that we can proceed to the next stage – a full contested hearing. This stage has been successful. That judge ruled that we have a prima facie case and that we were acting in good faith. Thank-you to everyone who has contributed.

We now need to raise funds for the next stage, the full contested hearing. This will begin on 28 March. If we are successful at the next hearing, we will be able to proceed with the legal action against the directors, which may be paid for by USS Limited (the company that runs our pensions). We have four claims:

  1. That the 2020 valuation was flawed and unnecessary
  2. USS costs are excessive
  3. The changes discriminate against women, younger and minority colleagues
  4. The USS has failed to have a credible plan to divest from fossil fuels, and this causes significant financial detriment

If you can donate just £50 or £20 it will make a huge difference. The current pensions cuts leave many of us £100,000’s worse off in retirement. If we win, we could get an injunction against the cuts that will happen on 1 April.

However, to proceed with the next hearing, we urgently need to raise more money to cover the legal costs of the full hearing. So we would be very grateful if you could contribute to our crowdfund. Time is short, so if you could donate as soon as possible we would greatly appreciate it!

If there is any money remaining in the crowdfund after the legal action is complete, we will use it for further legal action over the USS, for example, seeking judicial review of The Pensions Regulator. If  there are no further legal options, or we get everything we want (a reasonable valuation, a cost-effective pension scheme, a pensions proposal that is not discriminatory, and divestment from fossil fuels), then we will donate any remaining funds to a charity.

We have 3 weeks to save the pension, so please donate now, and share with everyone you know!

To do

  1. Please donate to our crowdfund
  2. Please share this with anyone who might be interested, or tweet the crowdfund page
  3. Ask your UCU branch to contribute to the fund
  4. Register and join our Zoom Q&A on Friday 11 March at 1300

Posted on behalf of Ewan McGaughey and Neil Davies

Our UCU branch is its members

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We rely on members and non-members to let us know what is going on within their school or service and flag anything that may be of concern.

Please do get in touch with a member of local branch committee if you have anything you think we need to know about.

It is never to late to join and being part of a recognised collective bargaining group comes with benefits and protections. If you would like to join the UCU you can do so at How to Join. It only takes a few minutes, it doesn’t cost much, and your subscription will be eligible for tax relief.

We also have free membership options for postgraduate research students.

Next phase of strike action announced

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On Friday the UCU General Secretary announced the plans for the next phase of strike action in both disputes. Strike days will be spread over 2 weeks with some branches taking action in the first week and the others in the second week. At Heriot-Watt we will be on strike from Monday 21 March to Friday 25 March over both disputes, Action for USS and the 4-Fights.

We need as many members to participate in strike action as possible. We can win these disputes if we act collectively and keep up the pressure on our employers.

In the meantime we are still taking action short of a strike (ASOS). This includes:

  1. working to contract
  2. not covering for absent colleagues
  3. removing uploaded materials related to, and/or not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as  a result of strike action
  4. not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action
  5. not undertaking any voluntary activities

If you receive requests from your line managers about information on the effect of your strike action on courses/learning objectives etc., do provide that information but do not do any of the above. Do not remedy the effect of your strike action. Do say that you have no plans to rearrange anything that was cancelled on strike days. Action short of a strike is only effective if we collectively adhere to the above actions. Students understand this, they have visited us on the picket line at Heriot-Watt, they have rallied together with us at Holyrood, and they have declared their solidarity at national level. If you feel, your students need further information about the disputes and why we are taking industrial action, point them to UCU – Why we’re taking action

One piece of good news, we have had over 600 GBP of donations to our hardship fund over the past few months alone. Thank you. If you would like to make a donation, please see here: https://heriotwatt.web.ucu.org.uk/hardship-fund/

If you are worried about about the cost of going on strike there is information about what help is available can be found on our Cost of striking and strike pay web page. You can apply for 50 GBP or 75 GBP per day depending on your salary, which goes some way to covering your losses.