Category Archives: Anti-casualisation

Members’ Meeting to discuss Marking and Assessment Boycott

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Following the recent electronic consultation on the employers’ proposals it has been confirmed that there were majority votes in favour of noting the proposal in the pensions dispute and rejecting the proposal in the pay and conditions dispute.

This means that the marking and assessment boycott (MAB) will start on 20 April 2023 as planned. If you haven’t had a chance to attend one of assessment and marking boycott training sessions you can watch the recording on YouTube and download the accompanying presentation and delivery notes. For further information please see the marking and assessment boycott FAQs and the UCU MAB Guide for 2023.

Branch reps met with HR earlier today to discuss the MAB. The early indications are that management are planning to deduct 50% of salary for participation in the MAB. This still needs to be confirmed by the University Executive but it would be a punitive measure, and significantly more than the 30% that was deducted in summer 2022.

We will be discussing all of this in an online branch member’s meeting on Tuesday 18 April at 3.30. Zoom links for the meeting have been sent by email. Please join the meeting to have your say and help us plan for another effective MAB at Heriot-Watt. On Thursday branch representatives will attend a national special sector conference.

 

Response to email from the Principal

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I would like to respond to the Principal Richard A Williams comments in the staff update email about industrial action from Tuesday 23 March.

The Principal describes his disappointment that the Higher Education Committee appears to have ignored the wishes of members. This is simply not the case. E-ballots are informal and BDMs are advisory. HEC decided that the offer was not enough of an improvement to be formally put to members. This is representative democracy.

Pausing action to put every offer directly to members in a formal ballot only encourages employers to make a series of meaningless offers in order to disrupt a dispute and kill the momentum of industrial action.

Members had already voted overwhelmingly to reject the pay offer in the previous snap e-ballot and little progress has been made on equality, casualisation, and workloads.

UCEA are also demanding that UCU agree to stand down industrial action for a year as a pre-condition of entering into further talks.

If the Principal would like to talk about ignoring survey results how about we start with recent staff satisfaction surveys where the need for better leadership/management is consistently one of the most commented themes, along with better pay and progression and more manageable workloads.

 

Still here and still waiting

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Great show today by the pickets, our student supporters, and the starfish of solidarity.

This is the final day of this block of industrial action and we are still here. Still waiting for a decent pay rise and still waiting for a proper deal on workloads, casualisation and the yawning pay gaps at Heriot-Watt University.

Let’s stick together

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After all the excitement of the disruptive but ultimately empty offer by the employers last week it was back out onto the picket first thing this morning. It bears repeating that the offer was simply not good enough. While we welcome the positive signs on pension restoration we note that it remains a qualified commitment. On 4-Fights there has been little progress beyond agreeing the Terms of Reference which will frame the negotiations about casualisation, workload and the equality pay gap. The imposed final pay offer of around 5% for most falls well short of inflation and has already been emphatically rejected in an online poll.

So, for now, we must stick together and continue with the strike action, and vote YES in the re-ballot.

We will win these disputes by coming together, sticking together, striking together and voting together – Jo Grady, UCU General Secretary

We are staying out

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The sun was out and we are staying out. The Higher Education Committee met today and it was decided that we will continue with the strike action and that members do not need to be consulted on the latest empty offer from the employers. This is in line with how our branch membership voted ahead of yesterday’s Branch Delegate Meeting.

Please join us and show our employer that we are not happy with the offer. Our picket will be back on Monday morning. Same time, same place. If you are not already a member, take the first step and join today.

Re-ballot

Not to be confused with Wednesday’s e-ballot is the ongoing re-ballot. Legislation requires that we do this now so that our mandate for industrial action continues for another 6 months. No-one wants to strike but it is critical to the success of negotiations that we are able continue to maintain the leverage of potential strikes and marking and assessment boycotts if we are to get the best deal.

Be in the room with your negotiators. Please vote in the re-ballot, and please vote yes.

Replacement re-ballot papers can be ordered at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/ucuRISING-ballotupdate

 

 

An empty offer, another e-ballot, and a BDM

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Thank-you brave few for the show of soggy solidarity on a soaking wet picket this morning. We could have all stayed home warm and dry to read about the latest offer from our employers. Except that it wasn’t really a new offer at all. There are some positive signs in the pensions dispute but so far nothing solid, just a committment on prioritisation of restoration of member benefits back to pre-April 2022 levels if it is affordable. Very little progress has been made in the Four Fights dispute, particularly on pay.

Consultative e-ballot and BDM

UCU national launched a consultative e-ballot on whether members should be consulted on the offer via a formal vote and whether the current industrial action should be paused in the meantime. Unfortunately the e-ballot rolled both into a single Yes/No question which is not ideal because apart from conflating the issues not all institutions are in USS and taking action over pension cuts.

An emergency meeting of the local branch committee was called at short notice last night to discuss and it was decided unanimously that we should run a local members’ poll to guage opinion on both seperately ahead of today’s Branch Delegates Meeting (BDM).

The majority vote was a very clear No to both with 78% against voting on the proposals and 88% against standing down strike action. This was presented at today’s Branch Delegate Meeting. The weighted votes from the BDM along with the results of the informal member e-ballot will inform a decision by the Higher Education Committee (HEC) who meet tomorrow. The HEC is the elected body that has authority to decide whether to consult members on an offer and to recommend how to vote and whether to cancel strike action.