HE sector conference

MOTIONS FOR DEBATE AT HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR CONFERENCE

Pay

HE1 - Composite: Affordability in year three. (University of Hertfordshire; University of Brighton, Falmer)

Conference believes that tying the third year of the pay settlement to 'affordability' is divisive, and was both a tactical and strategic error. Some institutions will be in a financial position to pay more than others; and some will be 'unable' to meet any further increase. This is tantamount to 'letting the HE market decide', and will undermine national bargaining. The debate about affordability must be set in the wider context where there is money for war and Trident, but not for education.

Conference instructs the HEC to:

• announce a target for the third year of the pay deal around which members can unite;
• initiate an immediate discussion on specific demands that can be raised to achieve an equalising of resources between institutions

CARRIED UNAMENDED

HE1A.1 - University of Westminster

Delete sentences 1-3. Insert 'of the third year of the pay settlement' after 'affordability'.LOST

LOST

National bargaining and framework implementation

HE2 - Composite: Defend National Bargaining(University of Hertfordshire; University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb; Manchester Metropolitan University; University of Greenwich, Maritime Greenwich)

Conference notes statements by some vice-chancellors in favour of local bargaining, and the intent to reform the JNCHES national framework this year.

Conference believes that the erosion of national bargaining would be disastrous and would seriously undermine the ability of the UCU to defend the working conditions and salaries of all its members.

Conference resolves that the UCU commitment to national bargaining should be given a high profile in the union.

Conference instructs the HEC:

1. to campaign among the membership for a commitment to national bargaining and a determination to defend it;
2. to respond to any attempts by employers to withdraw from national bargaining, either locally or nationally, with immediate nationally organised opposition from the UCU, including boycotts of institutions which seek to impose local bargaining;
3. to seek an appropriate extension of the post-92 national contract to pre-92 institutions as a set of contractual minima.

CARRIED AS AMENDED

HE2A.1 - Compositing amendment (University of Hertfordshire; University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb):

In (2), before 'boycotts', add 'industrial action and'

CARRIED

HE3 - Composite: Framework agreement and local bargaining (University of Greenwich, Maritime Greenwich; University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb)

Conference believes that the Framework Agreement has fractured common practices on pay throughout Higher Education sector.

This 'flexibility' consequent on locally agreed variations threatens to become the precursor for local bargaining on pay and conditions, and a threat to national negotiations.

Conference instructs the HEC to seek to reverse this threat by

• using the work of the PIG/RatPan sub-committees to identify 'best practice' in the sector as a whole in respect of progression, HPL contracts, grade boundaries, promotion procedures, contribution points, etc. and circulating this information to LAs/branches;
• coordinating appropriately varied local campaigns to achieve a progressive convergence of local agreements on a notional common national set of conditions.

CARRIED

HE4 - Local contracts - leadership needed (University of Bournemouth)

Bournemouth University branch notes that the University's management has introduced a revised contract for new starters deviating from the 1992 national contract which reduces their leave from 35 to 30 days; which removes the cap on 18 hours teaching contact per week; which ignores the six weeks of self-directed study leave; which removes the intellectual property rights on personal lecture notes as an aid to teaching; and which revised contract the management now wants to induce existing staff to accept. Accordingly the branch calls upon Conference to instruct our national leadership to engage with the university management so that they desist from these actions.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Specialist groups

HE5 - Job evaluation (University of Liverpool)

This conference notes with concern the extent of red-circling of academic-related staff which has arisen as a result of the implementation of the Framework Agreement. In many institutions it appears that managements have been able to manipulate job evaluations schemes so that for academic-related staff managerial responsibility is favoured over specialist skills in a way which does not apply to academic staff. There are also concerns that promotion prospects for academic-related staff may be curtailed as a result of the introduction of job evaluation.

This conference instructs HEC to conduct an investigation into the objectivity of the job evaluation schemes in use together with an analysis of actual and potential discrimination against particular groups of staff, including academic-related staff and academic staff in certain subject areas.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE6 - Redeployment of fixed-term staff (University of Glasgow)

Conference notes that the redeployment of former fixed-term research staff is threatened by the costs attached to those with a significant period of service, in that PIs may seek external appointments or favour researchers with fewer years' continuous service and therefore lower ancillary costs. Conference also notes that this is symptomatic of the fixed-term culture that prevails in HE institutions that perceives staff on FT contracts as disposable. Conference calls on Executive to collate examples of good and bad practice of moving staff from FT to open contracts and to mount a campaign to help change the institutional culture.

CARRIED

HE7 - Composite: Casualisation in Higher Education (University of Brighton, Grand Parade; Transitional Arrangements Committee)

Conference commends the HEC for agreeing a unified approach to casualisation across HE, and to no sign-off of local implementations of the Framework Agreement unless hourly-paid staff are transferred to the pay and grading structures alongside other staff, with every effort to secure fractional (or full time salaried) contracts as part of the implementation, and to make them permanent.

We call on the HEC to further combat casualisation by:

• supporting LAs and branches in negotiating fixed-term staff agreements, and ensuring that these include hourly-paid staff
• not signing off local implementations of the Framework Agreement unless hourly-paid teaching staff (HPLs) are included on a minimum of Academic Grade 2 alongside other teaching staff
• where earlier Framework Agreements have not so benefited HPLs, working alongside local activists to bring pay and contracts into line with national policy
• ensuring all permanent work is matched by permanent contracts (excepting temporary cover);
• campaigning to bring HPLs in pre-92 universities into national negotiations.
• seeking the universalisation of the post-92 hourly rate.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE8 - Inequality between HPLs and full time academics (London Metropolitan University, Ladbroke and Spring House)

Conference instructs regional UCU officials to organise and engage with a collective campaign in UCU to eliminate inequalities of pay and conditions between academics in Higher Education Institutions currently on hourly paid contracts and their full time academic colleagues.

CARRIED AS AMENDED UNANIMOUSLY

HE8A.1 - Higher Education Committee

Delete 'regional UCU officials'; replace with 'the HEC'.

CARRIED

HE9 - Health educators (Northumbria University)

Cutbacks in education budgets impact upon health educators in multiple ways. Not only do they experience year on year cuts in response to market type mechanisms, but they also have to contend with unrealistic national tariffs set by the Department of Health, and budget-raiding by cash-strapped Strategic Health Authorities. The combined result is the demise of small, very essential health courses, and pressures on academic staff to teach beyond their contracts.

Conference resolves that UCU shall campaign for:

• the numbers of doctors, nurses and midwives in the NHS to be increased to at least the EU average level;
• restoration of ring-fencing of the multi-professional education and training budget;
• national tariffs to be set at a realistic level;
• assurance that no academic staff are pressurised to work in excess of their contracted academic year or weekly hours.

CARRIED AS AMENDED UNANIMOUSLY

HE9A.1 - De Montfort University

Change 3rd sentence to read:

'The combined result is the demise of essential health courses, redundancies, and increasing pressures on remaining academic staff to teach excessive hours, in some cases beyond their contracts.'

CARRIED

Professional issues: academic freedom

HE10 - Academic Freedom (Queen's University Belfast)

Many universities now take the view that academic freedom relates not to the ability to pursue research questions of one's choosing but to the ability to express unpopular views. Moves in this direction are partly driven by issues relating to cost where research is capital intensive. New metrics-based proposals for research assessment are likely to strengthen these tendencies and apply them in a wider range of contexts.

This conference calls on the executive to embark on a campaign to defend academic freedom by all appropriate means.

CARRIED

Privatisation and marketisation

HE11 - Composite National public campaign to defend higher education in UK (University College London; University of Aberdeen)

Our sector faces cuts driven by 'market forces' and government. However branches are mostly left fighting cuts locally.

Academic freedom of inquiry is under attack. Consequently:

• disciplines or activities cease on cost grounds without debate,
• research becomes dominated by external interests or product development,
• teaching and research separate,
• student applicants are priced out of less vocational subjects,
• students work through college and spend less time on their studies, and
• the social distribution of graduates narrows.

Conference believes the freedom of academics to pursue their research interests and for this to inform their teaching is a social good - not a commodity for sale.

Conference calls for a national campaign against cuts in the HE sector, to explain the value of HE to the public, fight for increased funding and oppose cuts and redundancies wherever they are threatened.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE12 - Privatisation (Higher Education Committee)

UCU is committed to promote and defend the quality of working life of its members. Cuts in public expenditure, alternative priorities of employing institutions, the marketisation of education and attempts to privatise academic activity, all represent threats to the public provision of higher education and consequently to both the quality of that provision and the jobs and terms and conditions of our members.

HESC instructs the HEC to provide the fullest support to local associations and branches in resisting moves to privatise academic and associated work and to ensure that a nationally co-ordinated campaign is conducted to maximise UCU's opposition against such privatisation of higher education.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE13 - Composite: Privatisation in Higher Education (Manchester Metropolitan University; University of Birmingham)

Conference notes that:

1. UCU policy is to reverse the casualisation of staff teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Privatisation will make such casualisation more likely;
2. Privatisation is a major threat to national bargaining;
3. If English language teaching can be outsourced, so too can introductory courses or support services or whole degree programmes. Everyone in higher education has an interest in fighting these early privatisations;
4. New Labour has earmarked billions for the new Trident programme. The money's there for HE to be 100 % publicly funded however the political will isn't there;

Conference calls upon the leadership of our union:

1. To organise a national demonstration, at Oxford Brookes or a similarly threatened institution, against the privatisation of language centres
2. To declare a national dispute with Universities UK on the issue of privatisation.

CARRIED AS AMENDED

HE13A.1 - Higher Education Committee

After 'Conference calls upon...', delete second point ii), 'to declare at national dispute...'

CARRIED

HE14 - Privatisation in UK Universities (University of Cardiff)

Conference notes that:

1. UCU members working at a number of universities are now being faced with the threat of privatisation.
2. Where universities have sought private involvement, redundancies have been threatened as have pay and conditions whilst quality of education has also been put at risk.
3. Dundee University recently withdrew its threat of compulsory redundancies, which were a knock-on effect of privatisation, following a determined campaign from the beginning by Dundee UCU and Conference congratulates Dundee UCU on its success.

Conference resolves:

1. To support the decision of UCU's higher education committee to campaign against attempts at privatisation in UK Universities.
2. To support the Dundee UCU call urging UCU to launch a serious national campaign in defence of higher education as a matter of urgency i.e. against privatisation and the accompanying threats of job cuts and erosion of pay and conditions.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Organisation

HE15 - Union representation on overseas campuses of UK universities (University of Nottingham)

In the light of the growing number of UK universities seeking and developing overseas campuses, particularly in countries where trade union membership is not as 'straightforward' as it is in the UK, Conference calls on the Executive Committee:

a) to develop policy guidance to support LAs/Branches in their negotiations with University managements to protect the employment rights of UCU members who work on the overseas campuses of UK universities;

b) to investigate the position of staff employed on such campuses with respect to union membership and representation.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Pensions

HE16 - Composite: Proposed changes to USS pensions (University of Glasgow; University of Liverpool)

Conference notes with concern proposed changes to USS, including raising the retirement age to 65 for new entrants and classing members who leave and return as new entrants.

Conference believes that an increased retirement age is only acceptable in return for improvements in the scheme, for example changing to a one-sixtieth accrual rate.

Conference supports UCU's negotiators in challenging such draconian changes, and instructs them to resist any move which would render USS significantly inferior to comparable schemes.

Conference further instructs UCU's negotiators to seek special protection for members who suffer breaks in service as a result of the ending of a fixed-term contract or a TUPE transfer.

REFERRED

HE16A.1 - University of Dundee

Delete sentence:

'Conference believes that an increased retirement age is only acceptable in return for improvements in the scheme, for example changing to a one-sixtieth accrual rate.'

Add:

'Conference rejects all pension changes which differentiate between existing and new members.
Conference recognises that strike action may be required to defend our pension rights and instructs UCU Executive to ballot for strike action in order to protect our pensions.'

AMENDMENT FALLS (MOTION REFERRED)

HE17 - Lack of consultation re pensions crisis (University of Aberdeen)

Aberdeen UCU notes with deep concern the lack of USS consultation about changes in pension arrangements and funding, and calls for immediate consultation with all interested parties. In addition, it expresses concern that our entire pension fund is dependent upon the success of and security of stock market investments, and urges USS to seek ways of diversifying the fund holdings. This meeting instructs UCU Executive to commission an independent report in the current USS crisis.

REFERRED

Equality

HE18 - Impact of age regulation legislation on enhanced redundancy schemes (UCL)

Without notifying College unions, UCL introduced changes in enhanced redundancy pay (ERP) last October. ERP for older, longer serving employees was scrapped and some members faced losses of £30,000+ compared to pre- Oct 1st 2006. The College claimed that the Age Regulations forbade any ERP scheme making improved payments based on long service.

UCU notes that such changes could make redundancy up to 75% cheaper and pressurise longer serving senior staff to take 'voluntary' severance in the current round of job cuts. Prompt action by UCL unions has forced UCL to reconsider.

UCU believes that these cuts may be a prelude to increased redundancies and that UCL's moves may be copied elsewhere. Conference calls upon the NEC to: (i) develop a national, centralised campaign against cuts and adverse changes in redundancy pay; and (ii) ensure that necessary logistical and legal assistance is available to branches facing this threat.

CARRIED

HE19 - Equality in universities (Northumbria University)

Conference notes with concern the lack of priority given by UK universities to equality issues. and how the impact of the neo-liberal agenda, globalisation and increased managerialism has led to increases in bullying, harassment and stress in academic staff.We are particularly concerned that

• many universities have not fully implemented the legal requirement for a Race Equality scheme, i.e. have not carried out Race Equality impact assessments
• the Stonewall Diversity champions table suggests a lack of attention to LGBT issues in many Universities.

Conference is asked to support:

• the election of an Equality Officer in every UCU Branch
• a national network of UCU Equality Officers with an annual conference and regular training sessions
• an audit of bullying and harassment in Universities
• equality being raised with the national employers with the demand for an urgent review of the issue in universities.

CARRIED

Workload

HE20 - Improvement of workload protection and working conditions (De Montfort University, Leicester)

We call for a clear commitment to improving the working conditions of academic and academic related staff in all future negotiations.

Underfunding in both pre-92 and post-92 sectors has led to staff being placed under increasing pressure to spend more time on teaching, research, and administration, without adequate support for clerical tasks such as photocopying. We question why the latter tasks are still routinely done by University academics when they have largely been removed from school teachers.

We therefore call for positive steps to be taken to improve workload protection and working conditions in academia. We believe that this should take the form of a negotiated contractual limit to the number of hours' work per week, and a practical and auditable commitment to employing more clerical, technical and administrative staff to support academic work. We urge UCU to make this a matter of priority.

CARRIED

HE21 - Development of Workload Model Template (University of Leeds)

Conference notes and shares the concern of the Health and Safety Executive that work-related stress will continue to rise in the HE sector unless something is done about it. Conference encourages HSE to use its powers of enforcement where there has been a contravention of statutory legislation. However, Conference believes this would not be necessary in a well-managed work environment where staff are protected from undue stress and supported in avoiding or managing stress. Conference believes contractual protection is required and that negotiated workload agreements, to a national template, should be in place in all HE institutions.

Conference calls on the national executive

(i) to develop and disseminate such a template;

(ii) to negotiate nationally with UCEA on minimum implementation standards;

(iii) to support local negotiators in their efforts to agree local workload models

CARRIED AS AMENDED

HE21A.1 - Higher Education Committee

Add at end of iii), 'where no national contract exists'.

CARRIED

Bullying

HE22 - Bullying (Nottingham Trent University, Clifton)

Sector Conference notes that Bullying is a seriously damaging problem within HEI's. It can occur in a wide variety of different ways between managers, employees and/or students. When bullying occurs it often results in poor performance, stress, sickness absence and leaves very unpleasant feelings for the people directly involved. Bullying is certainly not needed in any educational institution and should not be tolerated in any form whatsoever. Therefore Conference resolves that awareness training should be provided by both the institutions themselves and within UCU. Also,that harassment procedures exist within all HEI's to deal effectively with this serious issue. Furthermore UCU should ensure that policies and procedures on this topic are disseminated widely and effectively across the sector within a high profile campaign to increase awareness of the damaging effects caused.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE23 - Workplace bullying (University of Birmingham)

Conference notes the growing incidence of alleged workplace bullying in HE institutions, often associated with RAE outputs, unreasonable research, teaching and administration targets, erosion of accountability and transparency in university governance, and unaccountable and reprehensible practices in management, recruitment and promotions.

Conference welcomes the 2006 House of Lords ruling on the case of Majrowski v Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, which will make it easier for an employee to bring a bullying-related claim against his/her employer under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and obtain damages for anxiety caused by the harassment, and any financial loss resulting from it.

Conference instructs Executive to issue guidance on the implications of this important case to all regional officials, LA/branch committees and personal casework officers.

Conference further instructs Executive to work with UCU's Legal Office to bring cases before the courts for work-related bullying in HE institutions.

CARRIED AS AMENDED

HE23A.1 - Higher Education Committee

In last sentence, between 'bring' and 'cases', insert 'appropriate'.

CARRIED

Governance

HE24 - Governance (Nottingham Trent University, Clifton)

Sector Conference of UCU demands best practice for the future Governance of all HEI's across the sector in order to provide a consistent framework for maintaining academic standards and academic freedoms. In particular the gross distortion of democratic accountability of Governing Boards in the 'Post '92' University sector now requires immediate attention by UCU. The current managerialist governance culture is at this time doing irreparable damage to institutional organisational structures. Conference therefore re-reaffirms previous policy in relation to governance at all levels in institutions, including at academic boards and senates, as set out in the ex-NATFHE manifesto on governance, and calls upon UCU to campaign effectively also to this end.

CARRIED AS AMENDED

HE24A.1 - Higher Education Committee

In last sentence, between 'as set out' and 'in the ex-NATFHE manifesto', add 'for example'.

CARRIED

HE25 - Reform of University Governance (University of Sussex)

1. Conference believes:
   
   i. that the financial and structural problems experienced in tertiary education are exacerbated by poor management, exemplified perfectly by the attempt at Sussex to close the Chemistry Dept;
   
   ii. that current thinking about HE management, i.e. that the VC must act like a private sector CEO in order to 'manage' the University, is erroneous;
   
   iii. that universities are not businesses, and managerial styles designed for the private sector are anathema to the philosophy of higher education
2. Conference recognises:
   
   i. that university governance is inadequate, resulting in consistently poor management being endorsed or excused at the expense of staff and students
3. Conference instructs:
   
   i. the NEC to campaign to
   
   (a) highlight the current inadequacy of, and
   
   (b) change the system of governance in our institutions with the aim of bringing about their democratic self-governance so they can reflect the needs of staff, students and local communities.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

HE26 - Disinvestment in Armaments Firms (University of Brighton, Grand Parade)

Conference notes that

• many universities have investments in companies involved in armaments manufacture and trade;
• the armaments industry is largely unregulated, and is willing to sell its products to any regime, however despicable or oppressive;
• investing in armaments is incompatible with the aim of enabling all to benefit from education;
• there are less damaging, interest-bearing sectors in which universities can invest for similar returns.

Conference encourages LAs/branches to campaign, in conjunction with students' unions and other campus trade unions, for their universities to withdraw all investments from arms manufacturers and distributors, and to adopt ethical investment policies.

CARRIED