Results of June Health & Safety Survey

Posted on 7 July 2020 by kingston

Thank you to those members who recently completed our survey on experiences of working from home and health and safety issues.

The full report is available here – please do take a read:

Kingston UCU Health & Safety Survey Analysis

The report really demonstrates the wide range of issues which staff are managing while working from home, some of which are having clear impacts on their well-being. It also indicates the widespread dissatisfaction there is with the University’s response to health and safety issues and the way it has communicated with staff, and further indicates significant concerns around the proposed model for campus reopening which proposes to allow for 30% face-to-face teaching.

Thank you again for giving your views on these difficult issues with us. We will share this report with management (all individual responses are unidentifiable) and continue to raise these issues in our ongoing discussions regarding health and safety and campus reopening.

Annual Leave – disappointing intransigence from management

Posted on 12 June 2020 by kingston

Kingston UCU branch have been pushing for an enhanced carry over of annual leave days in light of the Covid-19 crisis, as has been implemented in several other universities. We have requested it be possible this year to carry over up to 15 days (the usual 5, plus 10 additional days).

We are also aware of experiences in several Schools and Departments of staff being pressurised to use up all their annual leave even if they didn’t want to, and that, instead of being approved by line mangers, the usual up to 5 days rollover would have be signed off by Deans. This has meant serious disparities and muddled communications across the university.

Our request for additional carry over has been rebutted by senior management, but in doing so they have stated that: ‘We have an existing, agreed leave policy that allows considerable flexibility. You have referenced “the usual” five day carry over and there is flexibility for more days leave than this to be carried-over subject to approval by the relevant Dean/Director of Professional Services.’

We therefore encourage staff to request the carry over that they need, making their case according to their circumstances, and to report back to us when and where this is denied.

Below you can read in full the email message from our Vice-Chair Rosie McNiece to the JNCC (Joint Negotiating and Consultatative Committee) members (11.06.2020):

Continue reading →

Black Lives Matter

Posted on 5 June 2020 by kingston

We would like to support and reiterate this statement from UCU in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the protests against the murder of George Floyd and racism in the US and here in the UK and around the world: UCU Standing Proudly Against Racism

We are aware that as a branch that we need to better support BAME staff and students and fight against institutional racism in our university and HE more broadly. Kingston University needs to offer much more than bland platitudes about diversity and we support the demands of Union of Kingston Students that the university take an unequivocal stand in support of black students and staff and Black Lives Matter.

We welcome members to share ideas on what we as a branch can do (see Get Involved) – in particular we are looking for additional members to join the branch committee as Equalities Reps – to help represent BAME, migrant, LGBTQ+, women, and disabled staff (training and allocated work hours are available). Please get in touch if you are interested.

And please get in touch with local reps if you have issues to raise about racism in our workplace or ideas to share about anti-racist activism the branch could support or get involved in.

Kingston UCU branch committee

Protecting HE Jobs from the impact of Covid-19

Posted on 15 May 2020 by kingston

We encourage all members to read the new UCU document ‘Protecting jobs in HE from the impact of Covid-19‘ (intended to be read in conjunction with a recent report on ‘Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on university finances‘ published for UCU by London Economics).

As a branch we need to be ready to defend members’ jobs, and to deal with management proposals for addressing the impact of the current crisis, particularly if that includes staff redundancies, including those on fixed term or other ‘casual’ contracts, or any other reductions in staff costs.

As the report says, ‘we should not let employers use the crisis to make job cuts or target our most vulnerable members‘.

Now more than ever is the time to have conversations with colleagues in your department or team about joining the union, and for members to get more involved in Kingston UCU branch activity.

Minutes of branch meeting April 21st

Posted on 4 May 2020 by kingston

Members can find the minutes of the last KU UCU branch meeting here:

Kingston University UCU Branch Meeting via Zoom 21st April 2020

Issues discussed included:

Working from Home and Health and Safety at work
Personal Boundaries and safeguarding while working from home
Support for staff with caring responsibilities whilst working from home
Situation for HPLs, fixed term and casualised staff
Furlough arrangements
Marking deadlines
Annual Leave
Impact of university closure on REF
Support for international and postgraduate students
Proposals for TB1 2020/2021

A #CoronaContract motion was passed to call on Kingston University support and protect the jobs of all staff on casual contracts and PhD students.

Please get in touch if you have any updates or feedback on these issues or any other issues that arise.

Wellbeing working from home and casualisation

Posted on 29 April 2020 by kingston

Here’s a couple of articles members might be interested in:

On wellbeing working from home and why online working can be more tiring and stressful, see ‘The reason Zoom calls drain your energy‘ from BBC Worklife.

On casualisation and Covid-19 being used to target staff on casual and short-term contracts see ‘Covid-19 shows up UK universities’ shameful employment practices‘ by Stefan Collini for the Guardian.

At the recent KU UCU Branch meeting a #CoronaContract motion was passed to call on Kingston University support and protect the jobs of all staff on casual contracts and PhD students.

And the branch committee continues to urge all members to conduct a workstation assessment in view of health and safety considerations under working from home conditions.

Health & Safety update: Home workstation self-assessment

Posted on 13 April 2020 by kingston

KU UCU branch committee highly recommends that members who are working from home carry out a workstation self-assessment as a matter of urgency.

Your employer has a legal obligation to abide by Health & Safety guidelines while you are working from home. If you feel that you are at risk or have concerns about your working environment you should raise these with your line manager. Please feel free to also alert your Kingston UCU branch officers.

To help you conduct a self-assessment there are guidelines from the Health and Safety Executive. The university’s current guidance can be found Staffspace along with FAQs about setting up home workstations. There is also an online training module on setting up and assessing your workstation. Staff can request to join this module by emailing safety@kingston.ac.uk

Kingston UCU Covid-19 update (from JNCC meeting March 24)

Posted on 27 March 2020 by kingston

On Tuesday 24th March UCU representatives, along with our partner unions, met formally with KU senior management at a Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee (JNCC) meeting to discuss actions and reactions to the current national Covid-19 emergency.

In the interim between scheduling and the meeting taking place, the situation had moved rapidly nationally and some of the concerns had already been addressed either by KU themselves or by government instruction.

Some of the key areas of concern for our members were:

Continue reading →

UCU Working from Home Guidance

Posted on 26 March 2020 by kingston

UCU circulated this very useful guidance on home working and universities’ responsibilities in relation to this. Please do take a read as you may wish to discuss these issues with your line managers: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10830/UCU-guidance-on-working-from-home-and-teaching-online/pdf/ucu_workfromhome_guide_mar202.pdf

This guidance is of course informing our discussions with management regarding the transition to home working.

Please just get in touch if we can offer help or advice.