Author Archives: heriotwatt

DUNDEE UNIVERSITY JOB CUTS – PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

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Dundee University has announced it will cut up to 120 jobs across the university in order to make a larger surplus. However UCU Dundee do not believe such drastic financial measures are required, or fair and do not believe that university management will achieve the job cuts they are anticipating without resorting to compulsory redundancies

University management have said they need to reduce staffing to deal with financial  pressures, however the Scottish Funding Council, which distributes public money to universities and colleges, has told Dundee University its likely funding package for the 2014-15 academic year will be £65.8 million, made up of £40.8m in teaching grants and £24.9m for research. The total is about £3.5m more than this academic year and the University is expected to have a total budget including research grants, tuition fees and other income, of about £220m. We believe the job cuts are unnecessary, will damage the university and it’s staff and students

Please sign the petition

The petition will be presented to Court on the 22nd of April at their meeting. It currently has over 600 signatures.

UCU Scotland

Caseworker Training Opportunity

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UCU is a member organisation. To be effective we need people to help us build a stronger union.

Union support to a member who is facing difficulty in the workplace is a key benefit of union membership, and HWUCU, like all other trade unions, relies heavily on the voluntary support and commitment of local members to deliver this key benefit. Providing informed advice and support to branch colleagues facing workplace difficulties is essential and greatly appreciated.

UCU Training Opportunity: Representing Members – an introduction to Casework, 11th April 2014

This course is taking place at Edinburgh University on the 11th of April, and is open to any member interested in assisting with casework for HWUCU. The course will enable you to:

  • understand the UCU legal support scheme and Recourse (formerly CUSN)
  • understand the role of the rep
  • understand how to communicate effectively with members seeking advice and represent them in meetings with management
  • identify sources of support and information for members seeking representation
  • understand the importance of using individual cases for collective organisation and describe the circumstances and ways in which this can be done
  • develop a collaborative approach with the member and manage their expectations
  • maintain confidentiality and handle conflicts of interest
  • assert your own rights and take care of your own wellbeing when handling personal cases
  • increase your understanding of procedures and processes related to individual representation
  • outline systems for dealing with individual casework in your branch.

Please consider whether you could take on the role of a HWUCU caseworker?

Speak informally to myself (C.M.Ure@hw.ac.uk), or any branch committee member, to discuss how you can support this vital aspect of local union activity.

Thank you.

 

 

Calling on UCU women members to mark International Women’s Day 8 March 2014

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What does women’s equality mean to you as a woman working in education? Who are the women who inspire you? We invite women members to write a brief statement on a piece of A4 paper, then send in a photo of yourself and/or your colleagues holding it. All photos will be posted on the UCU website. Alternatively you might want to pose with a copy of our downloadable IWD poster or newly created postcard – available from Charlotte Nielsen. Photos should be sent to Charlotte Nielsen: cnielsen@ucu.org.uk by 7 March.

For more information about International Women’s Day and events, go to: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Please forward the message on to your colleagues.

Best wishes

Charlotte Nielsen

Equality Support Official
University and College Union
Carlow Street
London NW1 7LH
Tel. 020 7756 2534

UCU Campaign – Stamp Out Casual Contracts

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In September last year, UCU reported that over half of universities and colleges use lecturers on zero-hour contracts.

Whilst zero hour contracts are not used by Heriot Watt, we encourage members to be aware of UCU’s national campaign against casualisation. UCU has a long history of fighting casualisation and demanding fair treatment for all members and we know that campaigns against casualisation are supported by all members – not just those who are directly affected. Casualisation in all its forms is a blight to further and higher education bringing with it inefficiency, inequality and personal stress.

Some progress has been achieved, University of Edinburgh vows to abolish zero-hour contracts, and the Government has just launched an online consultation on the use of zero-hours contracts which focuses on:

  • exclusivity clauses
  • improving transparency
  • questions for employers and individuals on how these types of clauses operate in practice.

UCU will be making a submission to the consultation, which will be published in the coming weeks, however all UCU members who have experienced working on zero hours contracts are urged to take part in the consultation. Members can complete the online questions 1-13 and 27- 41.

Most members’ experience of zero-hours contracts is that they have little choice but to accept them as no permanent full-time or fractional posts are on offer. It is important that individuals give answers in this consultation that show zero-hours contracts create insecurity not freedom for employees.

The consultation documents and online forms can be found here. The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 13 March 2014.

2 Hour Strike Action

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Dear all,

Many thanks for supporting the action and taking part in Thursday’s 2 hour strike last week.

The next 2 hour strike is today, Tuesday 28th January, from 2pm to 4pm.  The Student’s Union are offering their support and are the signposted hub for staff on strike. Committee room 1 and free tea, coffee and biscuits are available or you can grab a bite to eat in the café.  You can chat to colleagues, read the paper, catch up on personal email,  or if you are feeling more energetic join colleagues for a campus walk.  If you have any other ideas for activities or would like to organise an activity/event then please get in touch.

Kind regards

Catherine Ure
HWUCU Secretary
http://heriotwatt.web.ucu.org.uk/

UCU Teaching in Higher Education Survey – please respond

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The UCU’s Education Committee is looking at the status of teaching and of those staff who deliverit within higher education with a view to making a report to our Congress in 2014.

Your views as academic practitioners are crucial to this project and to the union’s ongoing work. Please help us by filling in the short survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ucuteachinginhe

The survey should only take a few minutes.

Yours faithfully,

Sally Hunt

UCU General Secretary

Strike Report

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Our thanks to every member who took strike action on 3 December and supported the union’s campaign for fair pay. It was a day of action all over the country in universities across the UK and in English FE colleges. You can see the whole day and follow it as it happened on our Live Blog.

Despite the busy news week, the strike action won a lot of coverage in the press, both nationally and regionally.

In higher education, the employers’ organisation UCEA trotted out its usual line that the 1% offer was all they could afford, yet UCU has today published a new briefing showing that according to their own forecasts, universities have good, healthy surpluses and reserves.

The union’s higher education committee is meeting on Friday December 6 to discuss and agree the next steps in the higher education campaign, while the further education committee will meet in January. In the meantime, the importance of campaigning on pay was highlighted this week by the publication of ONS statistics showing the role of wage freezes in stagnating household incomes. 

UCU: Helping you in your career

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UCU is now offering a range of CPD resources – free as a benefit of membership – aimed at supporting you, both in your career and for your own personal development. You can access the new programme by going to the ‘Learning For Life’ website at http://cpd.web.ucu.org.uk/ where you can find:

  • Downloadable learning resources  for education staff. The latest guides  include ‘How to write a good research grant application’, ‘UCU’s guide to classroom management’, and ‘Voice care for teachers’ – all written by experts in the field.
  • CPD courses in a range of accessible formats delivered near to your workplace by professional tutors.
  • Articles and up-to-date advice  as well as contributions and blogs from our members.
  • UCU services and benefits – information on the full range of services available to members as well as special offers.

‘Learning for Life’ will help you develop skills to get the most out of your career and we aim to help you develop excellence and confidence in teaching, learning and professional practice.

In a fast changing sector we aim to bring you the most up-to-date information and support possible and will be regularly updating and adding to what is available so please watch this space! If you would like to contribute material or you just have something to say about CPD then please get in touch: cpd@ucu.org.uk

Working to contract: What action is the union asking me to take?

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UCU is calling on all members in higher education to begin working to contract and working to rule. This means that we’re asking you to abide strictly by the terms of your contract, so the first thing to do is to dig out your contract of employment and refer to that when reading this advice. In brief, we are asking members to:

  • work no more than their contracted hours where those hours are expressly stated, or where they are stipulated in a workload agreement and in any event not to exceed the maximum number of hours per week stipulated in the Working Time Regulations (48 hours a week)
  • perform no additional voluntary duties, such as out of hours cover, or covering for colleagues (unless such cover is contractually required)
  • set and mark no work beyond that work which they are contractually obliged to set and/or mark
  • attend no meetings where such attendance is voluntary on the part of the members
  • undertake no duties that breach health and safety policies or other significant employer’s policies

Some of it sounds simple and basic but we know from experience that Universities run on significant amounts of unpaid labour and goodwill. This is what we are withdrawing in this action.

In support of the above we are also asking you to add the following text to your email signature:

‘PLEASE NOTE: There may be a delay in dealing with your email as I am participating in UCU industrial action by ‘working to contract’ in support of the union’s campaign for fair pay in higher education.’ Further information can be found at http://www.ucu.org.uk.”

Further guidance on working to contract, including a list of FAQs, is available at:

http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6804

Thank you for your support.

HWUCU Committee

 

 

 

Strike deductions

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We have been advised that for UCU members who took strike action on October 31st:

  • Amount of pay deducted will be 1/260th.
  • Pensions contributions will not be deducted.
  • All deductions will be donated to the student hardship fund.

Thanks again for your support.

UCU Committee