Cardiff Metropolitan University blasted for bizarre contract demands

The strange command has only recently come to light after the university barred UCU from the professorial review body tasked with carrying out a change to the contracts. As a result, the new contracts had not been properly scrutinised when they were issued to staff.

Relations between the university and union have become increasingly strained, with the university recently refusing permission for a recruitment event to be held on campus. Despite repeated requests from the UCU branch, the university did not offer any reasons for these decisions.

In February, the university wrote to its core professors demanding that they sign the new contracts within two weeks. The union says the university failed to explain the reasons behind the introduction of new contracts, and did not allow staff adequate time to consider and consult on the new terms and conditions.

The revised contracts contain a number of amended terms for professors, including the bizarre clause which states that the university 'may from time to time... suspend you or exclude you from all or any premises of the University or require you to abstain from contacting or dealing with any contacts including staff and students, but your salary will not cease to be payable'.

Margaret Phelan, UCU Wales official, said: 'The whole professorial review at CMU has been conducted in an opaque and unsatisfactory fashion. UCU was perfectly willing to input into the process but was not involved in any meaningful way once the review was under way.

'As it turns out, the proposed contracts are littered with bizarre and confusing terms, including a clause which suggests that professors might, for no apparent reason, be asked not to undertake their duties but still get paid. While to some that might sound like a good deal, in reality it equates to a great amount of uncertainty for staff around what is expected of them and how secure their jobs are. 

'We are calling on CMU to review their contract proposals and engage with UCU to ensure that any new contract is sensible and fair to staff.'