Category Archives: Events

The ballot is open, vote YES/YES

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The ballot packs from Civica (CEC) went into the post yesterday and some will already have been delivered. You should also be receiving your #ucuRising campaign material, including a poster in the post.

You will receive two ballot papers in one envelope and with one return envelope for both ballots. Please complete and return your ballots at the earliest opportunity.

Our key demands are

  • a fair pay rise
  • meaningful commitment to tackle casualisation
  • meaningful agreement on workloads
  • action on equality pay gaps
  • restoration of pension benefits
  • moderately prudent evidence based USS pension fund valuations in future

The full Higher Education Joint Unions’ Claim for 2022/23 can be found at https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/12528/HE-unions-claim-2022-23/pdf/TUJNCHESclaim202223FINAL.pdf

Deliveries may be delayed by industrial action being undertaken by CWU on Thursday and Friday. If your ballot has not arrived yet, please be patient. We need supportive of our posties #StandByYourPost.

Can we ask that that you take a selfie when posting your ballot, with your poster in shot if possible, and post online with the hashtag of #UCUrising and tag/mention HWUCU branch on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/UCUHWU/ or Twitter at https://twitter.com/UCU_HWUBranch. If you don’t have social media email your photos to John at the local branch committee.

No problem if your paws are camera shy, please just post your ballot and let our GTVO team know that you have voted when they get in touch. This is a big national aggregated ballot this time so there may be communications from both the local branch and UCU HQ but we will do our best to avoid asking you again once you have already notified that you have voted.

This is a great time to get involved with union activity at branch level. If you would like to help spread the word please contact Joss at the local branch committee.

Find out how much you pay has been cut since 2009

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Since 2009 average pay in the sector has been cut by more than 25% relative to RPI, and on top of this many of us find ourselves working extra unpaid hours.

Use the UCU HE pay modeller to discover just how much has been cut from your salary while our vice chancellors have continued to earn huge salaries and waste money on expensive vanity project when they could have been investing in staff.

Compare what you are taking home for all those extra hours with what our vice chancellors have been earning since 2009.

Emoluments of Principal and Vice Chancellor

Annual Accounts 2022 £338,0001
Annual Accounts 2021 £312,0001
Annual Accounts 2020 £316,0001
Annual Accounts 2019 £309,0001
Annual Accounts 2018 £282,0001
Annual Accounts 2017 £285,0001
Annual Accounts 2016 £272,0001
Annual Accounts 2015 £92,0002 + £189,0003
Annual Accounts 2014 £237,0003
Annual Accounts 2013 £253,0003
Annual Accounts 2012 £207,0003
Annual Accounts 2011 £211,0003
Annual Accounts 2010 £62,0004 + £198,0003
Annual Accounts 2009 £248,0004

Notes:

  1. Professor Richard A Williams
  2. Professor Julian Jones (Acting Principal)
  3. Professor Steve Chapman
  4. Professor Anton Muscatelli

Vote about calling off marking boycott

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Please vote before 12pm (noon) tomorrow on Friday 24 June on whether or not we should stand down the marking and assessment boycott in return for joint statements.

The voting question is: We propose to call off the assessment and marking boycott and resume any marking still required in return for the public joint statements on USS and Four Fights disputes and no pay deductions will be made.

We have been negotiating these local joint statements over several weeks. Whilst we would always hope for more, we think the statements represent a positive move forward and we are pleased to put them to members today to vote on.

Several branches who were in boycott have already negotiated joint statements and it is hoped that collectively these will move the national disputes over USS and Four Fights forward. Our proposed statement on pay conditions also includes some commitment by the university to local improvements, most notably on workload.

You should have received an email with copies of both statements and a link to the poll. If not please contact the branch office as a matter of utmost urgency.

Thank you to all members who have participated in the assessment and marking boycott and to those who took strike action. Your action has made these negotiations possible.

Member meeting to discuss local negotiations on USS and 4F

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We will be holding a member meetings on Wednesday 22 June from 2.00-3.00pm in to discuss the latest developments in the disputes. All members have been sent Zoom login details ahead of these meetings. If you do not receive yours, or if you need a reminder, please contact Juergen at the local branch.

At the meeting will have an update on local negotiations to agree joint statements on the USS pension and the 4-Fights with HWU.

Please join us. This is your chance to feed back and indicate what you think about the direction in which we are headed. Should we stand down the assessment and marking boycott in return for the joint statements?

Of the 20 branches who went into the boycott a significant number have now managed to secure statements on USS dispute as well as local agreements which improve working conditions for those branches and help to shift the position nationally. The number of statements on USS now covers 43% of all USS members and continues to rise. We hope to add HWU to that total soon.

Thank you to all branch members who continue to participate in ASOS including the marking and assessment boycott. It is the accumulation of all your efforts to date since December which is starting to make a difference in the disputes.

We will running a members’ poll after the meeting. All members will be sent a link. Please check you inbox and vote on the proposals. It is important that as many members as possible cast their vote.

 

 

HWUCU branch membership collectively nominated for the Celebrating our Values in Action Award

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The members of Heriot-Watt UCU have been collectively nominated for the Celebrating our Values in Action Award at the upcoming Celebrating our People Awards.

We didn’t win this time, but there is always next year. Plenty more work to be done in the meantime as we continue the fight to protect our pensions, secure fair pay and employment conditions, manageable workloads, and a safe workplace.

The union’s strength is in its membership and the greater our number, the stronger we are.

Membership is open to staff and students in the UK.

Join UCU and have the strength of the union around you.

Dear Marion Winters

I am delighted to let you know that Heriot-Watt UCU Branch Members has been nominated for the above award as part of our inaugural Celebrating our People Awards.

Here is a short summary about the nomination;

The Heriot-Watt UCU Branch membership are the very embodiment of the HWU Collaborate value. A group of individuals who are working hard in partnership. Members have sacrificed pay [] to take part in industrial action with the purpose of ensuring fair pay and equal treatment, and we fight collectively to keep all employees safe in the face of increasing stress and deteriorating working conditions. Consultation and feedback from branch members helped to prevent compulsory redundancies in the first year of lockdown. Our reps and negotiators have worked hard with the senior leadership team to minimise the threat of covid on campus, and we continue to work with them to put in place suitable hybrid working arrangements post-covid. This is all achieved by members who collectively put themselves forward for the benefit for all.

A judging panel met in May and had the difficult task of shortlisting all the nominations received for this award. The team nomination unfortunately did not meet the shortlist. However, you should be very proud that you were nominated by your colleagues and what you have achieved.

In line with our value Celebrate – my sincerest congratulations! It is only through people like you that Heriot-Watt continues to be a thriving and successful Institution. As the lead name for this nomination, I would appreciate if you could share this with the others in the team.

You will receive a Certificate of thanks for your contribution to Heriot-Watt University, supporting delivery of Strategy 2025 and living our values.

I look forward to your continued support and contribution to the Heriot-Watt community.

With best wishes,

Professor Mark Biggs,
Vice-Principal and Provost and Executive Sponsor of the Celebrating our People Awards

 

Annual General Meeting 2022

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This year’s AGM will be held online by Zoom meeting on Wednesday 25 May 2022 at 12:00.

All of our local members should have received an invite by email together with a note of the agenda and the minutes of the 2021 AGM for information. If not, or if you require a reminder, please contact Juergen Munz at Juergen.Munz@hw.ac.uk.

Please note that BSL Interpreting will be provided.

Agenda

  1. Welcome
  2. Attendance and apologies
  3. Minutes of AGM 2021
  4. Report from the committee
  5. Treasurer’s report
  6. Appointment of auditor
  7. Election of Officers and Representatives of the Committee
  8. Disputes
  9. AOB

Join the UCU

We are a strong Branch with well-attended AGMs/EGMs and an active membership and Committee but we can always use more help. To find out more about the work of our local HWUCU branch please check out the rest of this website and our Twitter feed at @UCU_HWUBranch.

If you have a few spare moments and you would like to get more involved please get in touch with one of our school or service reps, or the Membership Officer. Contacts can be found at https://heriotwatt.web.ucu.org.uk/branchcommittee/

If you are not already a member here are 5 Reasons to Join UCU. It only takes 10 minutes and subscriptions start from just £2 per month, so why not join today?

Members meeting to discuss further action

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Update: Zoom links have now been sent out for this meeting. If you have not received yours please contact the local branch office. Please note that this is a members meeting to discuss ASOS and the marking boycott, separate from the AGM which is to be held the following week.

UCU have confirmed that they will be calling for a marking and assessment boycott from 23 May and a further 10 days of strike action in those branches which have an ongoing mandate for industrial action. Heriot-Watt are one of 44 universities who will taking part in this latest escalation of the disputes over pay, conditions and USS pensions.

The union’s higher education committee will meet on Thursday 12 May to decide when strike action should take place. In the meantime we are working with the Principal to agree local statements on both disputes.

We will then hold a local branch members meeting on Wednesday 18 May from 12.30 to 1.30 to discuss further action.

Please come to this meeting. Instructions about about how to join will follow by email. BSL interpreting will be provided.