AGM Minutes 2019
Minutes: Birkbeck UCU AGM
Date: 27th June 2019
Present: Ashok Kumar, Rebecca Gumbrell- McCormick (chair), Yousuf Joodan (Students Union), Brad Baxter, Jonathan A Smith, Paddy McDaid, Ozan Kanioglu, Sean Hamill, Mike Bintley, Molly Flynn, Asuncion Lopez, Rebecca Whiting, Ron Smith, Mike Berlin, Richard Carabine, Eva Szatmari, Arron Phillips, Chatrakul Na Ayundhya, Trevor Fenner, Andy Young (HQ), Julia Ireland (minute taker)
Item 1: Branch report |
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President John Kelly ran through a report he sent out before the meeting (please find report attached) which highlighted the event and campaign of the previous year. He summarised a few points from this report.
Voluntary Severance –There have been a number of administrative grade staff taking VS across the college. As a result there is lots of reorganisation going on across the schools and most of those affected were Unison grade administrative staff. The Birkbeck UCU Committee works alongside Unison with this and discussions are ongoing.
We had a major success regarding Professorial pay in which new professors had their salaries increased only for the college to attempt to cancel the salary upgrade. The college backed down on this. This issues most affected female colleagues and though this particular campaign was successful, the college has refused so far to apply the same increase to staff promoted to the rank of professor this year. The Union and committee are still working on this, along with the broader issues around the gender pay gap at Birkbeck.
National news: Jo O’Grady won the General Secretary election in spring and will be starting 1st August. Congress voted in favour of 2 disputes in autumn over pensions and pay.
Local upcoming issues: The college has agreed to update the old union recognition agreement. This agreement divides issues into those which the college negotiates with us and those on which they consult with us on. We aim to have more say in negotiations and committee are about to start conversations on this.
Three term teaching. Committee are not against this on principle though there are key points we want to be sure of: That there will be no increase in work loads That we avoid situations where people teach in all three terms.
T&S staff. Mike Berlin updated the AGM on negotiations with the college. Fractionalisation of T&S staff – we are pushing for the majority of the700 people working on these contracts to have their contracts fractionalised, whereas the college is pushing for only a minimum number to be fractionalised. There will be a revision to existing contracts taking place alongside a process of fractionalisation. There are ongoing talks about who will be eligible for fractionalisation and also what the revisions will consist of. We want the multiplier to be increased and some standalone payment for marking.
We will keep you updated on developments.
The discussion was opened up to the group: Some members wanted to know the rationale behind three term teaching. From some present it was understood that spreading teaching over three terms may ease the pressure on room bookings, which are often not as busy over the summer period. The college has claimed it would be helpful for student experience and retentions, but some of those present felt it wouldn’t give students enough time to process earlier material or to complete coursework, and that being assessed immediately after teaching might lead to poor retention of information.
Yusuf from the Students Union added that three term learning/ teaching may mean that students do not need to be on site as often, which may be beneficial for some.
As all schools across the college are different, it may not be possible to have a standardised approach.
Health and Safety Officer Richard Carabine highlighted an increasing level of stress and mental health in HE. The college has set up a health and well- being group. It is thought that longer work hours, bullying and harassment and additional pressure as a result of changes in the college such as the Cubane Review are the cause of the rise in mental health concerns.
The Cubane review is a staged process: the first stage is in July and line managers need to complete documentation. Then in autumn individual staff members will need to document their tasks. This started in academia in Australia and led to redundancies and job losses there. The purpose of the review is benchmarking and ‘efficiency’. Unison is concerned and we will be working with them on this issue.
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick , Welfare officer , added that there have been more issues with stress related illness, sick leave, VSER, workloads and bullying. She is also the convener of the staff disability network and is prepared to use that avenue to press on this issue.
The college has said there will be training in identifying mental health issues for line managers grade 6-8 as they have the most managerial responsibility.
Industrial Action in Autumn In response to congress voting in favour of two areas of strike action, some expressed concern that it is unsustainable for many members to strike for so long and that as a result fewer people will strike and our position will look weak.
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