Kingston UCU Newsletter November 2024

Posted on 30 November 2024 by kingston

Discontent grows across the university about unmanageable workloads and micromanagement

Latest meetings with management

JNCC 5th November, 2024

Compulsory Compliance Training

HR reported at JNCC on a new Sexual Harassment policy developed in the light of recent legislative changes effective from October 2024.Also flagged the necessity of undertaking Diversity Awareness compliance training. A guidance document and toolkit has been developed for managers prompting UCU
representatives to ask about the extent of bullying of members reported to the union. What was being done about this? HR maintained that bullying “hotspots” were identified and line managers given training or otherwise disciplined.

Domains

Ongoing union dissatisfaction with the Domains project was reported and acknowledged by management and HR but no changes envisaged. To be clear, UCU at Kingston has NEVER agreed with the Domains project and continues to press for change.

University not adhering to post-92 contract?

KU contracts usually allocate 35 days plus closure days for annual leave entitlement. Your union representatives queried whether there was variation from this contract being implemented at KU? The union implemented an action point
at the meeting to require HR and management to show us any new contracts they have developed and any collective bargaining agreements reached with the union about the implementation of any new contracts.

Portfolio Review

The union asked what was happening with a Portfolio Review recently announced by the university. University management representatives stated that they were looking into the financial impact of student numbers.

Future Skills

Union representatives asked if there was evidence of any beneficial impact of the Future Skills project and what were the costs associated with it. Management had no positive metrics to report on this but stated that future funding would be found for Future Skills once the current funding runs out. Management did say that there was research that showed that use of external assessment centres did link to better employability outcomes for students but didn’t have details
of this research to present at this JNCC.

New benefits portal

The University recently launched a new benefits portal, but reports at the JNCC are that although 44% of staff have signed up to the portal, only 2.8% are using it. We have found that many of the discounts offered are high street shops and
supermarkets. Some are competitive or better than places like TopCashBack, so they are worth checking and getting the app.

Meeting with the VC 6th November, 2024

At this meeting the VC gave his usual speech about our need to “square a circle” of structural under-financing of the HE sector and the need for us to make ourselves more attractive to students, staff and external bodies. We need to gain 5% more funding per year just to maintain the status quo.

In response the union said that the main issues facing the university and its staff were workload and staff turnover. What is the university planning to do about these?

HR responded by saying that staff turnover is in line with the sector. The VC replied that addressing workloads was tough given our financial pressures and we need to be more efficient. He cited course design and student appeals as being two sources of perceived inefficiency.

Management representatives added that assessments are expensive and optionality in modules too. Your union representatives insisted that process should not drive assessment pedagogies but best assessment practice should.

University Finances

The VC stated that unlike some institutions in the news, we are not at risk of needing government rescue. Your union sought reassurance that no staff redundancies were being considered. The VC replied that as we undertook a lot of preventative actions over the last 5 years we were in a much better financial position than some other universities. He added that while we did well on recruitment this year we will have to take costs out of the university.

Student Recruitment

Union representatives asked the VC if we had reduced our tariffs to recruit more students. The VC replied that we only did that in a limited number of cases. The unions asked what the potential impact might be of lower tariff students on retention. The VC replied that we increased home undergraduate students by 5%
and this was an incredible achievement and that we were a small university that was trying to grow. This remark seems to indicate the VC has completely forgotten the policy of his immediate predecessor to make the university smaller!

Catering Supplier Aramark

We were supposed to have had 16 outlets provided by Aramark. We don’t have this number and those that we do have are not open long enough. The VC replied that KUSCO are looking into this and that we have to subsidise any losses made by Aramark? Another management representative reported
that more vending machines will be installed over Christmas.

Future Plans for the Estate

Union representatives asked about the possible redevelopment of Middle Mill. The VC said that the university was reviewing all capital expenditure but that KSA was “bursting at the seams” and 2.5 thousand students were currently provisioned only with a 100 seat canteen.

Review of 2023

Posted on 11 January 2024 by kingston

One of our big wins, together with Unison, was the harmonization of Annual Leave across all staff at the University. Previously, workers up to grade 7 started on 25 days of Annual Leave and earned one more day each year, up to a maximum of 30 days. This impacted our professional services colleagues and others. Most academic staff will have 35 days Annual Leave for full-time employment. From August 2024, all staff will have 35 days and for 2023-2024 additional days have been granted to those previously on less (pro rata).

In addition, we have ensured that any money taken from staff due to industrial action will go to the Student Hardship Fund once any processing of student fee reimbursements has been done.

Although we did not get the pay rise we fought for, it is notable that the percentage increase in our salaries was also applied to our London Weighting. This had not previously been the case.

We have been participating in working groups that are sub-groups of our normal joint negotiation meetings, which includes Unison. One working group is dedicated to our national goal of anti-casualisation, ensuring fair treatment and pay of HPLs and temporary workers. The other working group is related to this and impacts all of us, as it is dedicated to addressing the issues of our workloads. Both groups have met several times, agreed membership and guiding principles. We hope to see some outcomes from them this year.

Several policies have been updated and reviewed, to reflect the rest of the working sector (not just HE) and to hopefully provide you with a clearer picture of expectations at the University. These include agreement on Personal Relationships, Sickness Absence, and Capability (now Performance Management) policies. These should all now be available via the HR StaffSpace page. More will come this year. In particular, we have asked that all Appendices to policy documents be included in the same document, as these are often difficult to track down.

We have pushed to have broken lifts repaired and to have timetabling issues communicated more effectively. In the coming year we have also agreed to develop a working group to look at data related to job responsibility differences between the genders, i.e. whether more women are course leaders, etc. We also expect some clarity on what is happening with availability of parking, particularly at Penrhyn Road. We have raised the issues of academics in open plan offices and hope to see some resolution this year; if this affects you please let us know on Kingstonucu@gmail.com. We also hope to see more social and communal space for staff.

We ask you to make your voice heard in relation to London Weighting. London Weighting for other universities has been raised to address issues in the pay gap and cost of living, with some rising to £5,000 or more. Unfortunately, some local institutions are also still on the same London Weighting of 30 years ago, £2,134. We wish to jointly agree a motion with Unison to see our London Weighting rise to £5,000, in line with our other London colleagues. Please attend the next branch meeting on January 17 to vote on this motion.