Review of 2024
This year has been tough for staff with the increasing cost of living and lack of movement by UCEA on negotiations for salary uplifts. This is further exacerbated by the failure of both the old and the new government to properly fund universities. Cost cutting measures are being implemented across the country and although we are facing these also at home, we are assured by our VC that we are better off than most. Take that as you will.
In our meetings with senior management this year, a number of issues have been raised. We have, of course, our ongoing campaign to look at having fair and transparent workload models that actually reflect the hours required to do various aspects of our work. This is a large project and is currently ongoing, but thus far the points being made by your UCU representatives are being heard. We will shortly be sending out our own survey to gather evidence on the number of hours you are working. Please respond to this survey when it arrives. You might also be interested in this article about the UCU at the University of Birmingham: https://birminghamucu.org/2024/10/16/university-under-investigation-by-the-health-and-safety-executive/
You may remember that we have presented evidence to the senior management that our London Weighting is too low and needs to be increased. We are still working on this matter, but it should be noted that the agreed UCEA increases to our salaries have also been applied to our London Weighting, which is a move in the right direction and far better than some of our neighbouring institutions that have been on the same London Weighting for over 30 years.
On your behalf we also asked about the staff degree scheme. We have had reports that staff have been turned down for this scheme, which offers staff the opportunity to study at KU for a reduced fee and part-time around their working schedule. Senior managers have made it clear to us, and hopefully to your line managers, that if a case can be made for the particular course either being relevant to your current job or to your personal professional development, then it should be approved.
We also dealt with the wording around some correspondence you may have received which left you feeling like you had become a debt collector for the University. The departments involved in this were spoken to by senior management and it was made clear that academic staff should not be chasing students for fees. The relevant persons within the University will continue to do this.
In discussions about the timing of certain academic activities and short deadlines, we raised an issue that has been raised several times before, both through UCU avenues and others. We have proposed a better alignment of the Enrichment Week in October with the local half term holidays. These have tended to be on separate, yet adjacent weeks. Harmonizing these would benefit staff and students with caring responsibilities. In the past, Registry has claimed there is pedagogical reasoning for the Enrichment Week being exactly when it falls, yet we can find none. Likewise, arguments that not all schools have the same half term has been shown by our investigations to be largely untrue, with most schools aligning on the final week of October. This is currently with senior management and we will see if any movement on this happens in the future.
Finally, in keeping with the national It’s Your Time workloads campaign (https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/9464/Its-your-time—workload-campaign-leaflet/pdf/UCU_its_your_time_campaign_flyer.pdf), we want to remind you of KU policies. According to the Overtime Procedure (available on StaffSpace under HR), “There should not
be a reliance on staff members working overtime and nor should staff members work over-time on a regular basis (e.g., for more than 12 weeks).”. Further, “Normally, overtime that is worked will be recompensed through the mechanism of time off in lieu (TOIL).” Please discuss your hours over your contract (i.e. over 37 hours per week full-time) with your line manager and arrange to take and use TOIL. Remember that, “Line managers are encouraged to support their staff members to self-manage their time flexibly in such a way that they do not work unreasonable or excessive hours, take the necessary breaks, and maintain a good balance between work and home activities.”
Please be on the look out for the workloads survey and our upcoming Kingston UCU branch meetings.
Sincerely,
Lori Snyder
KUCU branch chair
