DRAFT OUBUCU/EC/2014-4-29 minutes
www.ucu.open.ac.uk
OPEN UNIVERSITY BRANCH OF UNIVERSITY & COLLEGE UNION
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON 29 APRIL 2014, 10.30AM IN B232,
WILSON B BLOCK, WALTON HALL
Present:
John Bennett, Eric Bowers (Chair), Gill Clough, Pauline Collins, Judy Ekins, Bruce Heil,
Jonathan Hughes, Meridian, Stephen Pattinson, Peter Piper, Kate Servant, and Eric
Wade.
Remote
participants
Costas Athanasopoulos and David Houpt by MS Lync.
Lesley Kane and Roger Walters by phone
Apologies:
Jeni Aldridge, Chris Bollom, David Knowles, John Peters and Philip O’Sullivan.
ACTION
1
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Agreed as a true record. Pauline asked about people’s names appearing on the Exec
minutes and in future Deb won’t include any names apart from Exec members’
names.
2
CONFIDENTIALITY OF MINUTES
Deb to make a change to the membership stats section and so the 11th March 2014
Exec minutes will now go on the branch website: http://ucu.open.ac.uk/meetings.
3
MATTERS ARISING
Appointment of Health & Safety reps – No further progress – Deb will contact the
member who had expressed an interest a while ago and put a bit in the next issue of
the Spark.
Revised AL terms & conditions on Tutorhome – see below under AL’s Officer’s
report.
Kate reported that we would need someone to moderate the blog – Gill suggested
that we do want blog comments to be approved; rather than allow anyone to post
comments instantly. There was a discussion about the delay in comments having to
be approved – Eric suggested that we get it launched, see how it goes and then
review the number of comments at the next meeting. Costas volunteered to be the
blog moderator and Deb needs to make a list of old Spark articles that we want
posted to the new blog: https://oubucu.wordpress.com.
Blog code of conduct needs to include a note on the fact that comments have to be
approved and that will happen 1-2 times per week.
Equality data for ALs – Costas asked about the equality data that he needs for ALs
– Deb has sent him the internal staff data and has now sent (30th April) a link to the
OU Equality and Diversity team’s website where there’s data for both sets of OU staff
and OU students. http://www.open.ac.uk/equality-diversity/node/10
HE PAY DISPUTE & MARKING BOYCOTT
Pauline mentioned the 2% pay rise for 2014-15 and the consultative ballot where
members need to use their vote by 10am on 1st May. The marking boycott has been
delayed until 6th May pending the results of the ballot.
Spark will have an update on the pay dispute and clarify that the 2% is the 2014 pay
rise, so there was no improvement on the 1% imposed for 2013.
David Houpt asked about the guidance given to ALs on the marking boycott – he has
an issue with the fact that ALs are marking the TMA and that students will be able to
guess their score from the comments.
4
5
CO-OPTIONS TO THE EXECUTIVE VACANCY: Regional/national academic-related
staff officer. Pauline will contact the member who was interested to see if she has
made a decision.
DS
DS/ROCC
PC
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6
POSSIBLE MOTION FOR UCU NEC
"NEC fully supports the growing campaign for a living wage as a means to tackle low pay.
NEC notes that low pay levels are widespread in the hotel and catering sector and that trade unions
provide a significant amount of business to this sector.
NEC therefore agrees to work through the TUC, with other unions, especially those representing others
in this sector, to explore the scope for making use of our position as users of the hotel and catering
industry, to tackle low pay in this sector by encouraging employers to become living wage employers
and favouring those which do so."
Proposed by Roger Walters
Roger reported that there is already another similar motion gone to the NEC and so
he is withdrawing this motion.
7
9
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
MEMBERSHIP STATS
Roger asked about ALs being included in the Academic category and Kate had
already asked for them to be separated out – Deb will get this done by the next
meeting.
Jonathan asked about membership amongst Researchers and what can we do to
improve this – Deb does send all Research staff the UCU “invite to join” letter when
they appear on the HR starters reports.
Lesley mentioned the UCU Anti-Casualisation day of action on 7th May and could we
do something on that day?
Gill reported that she is a FTC Researcher and thinks that the new branch blog might
help with recruiting research staff.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
East Grinstead closure - a Campaign Working Group has been established. Lobby
of OU Council meeting, 9.30 on 13th May – meet outside the Hub. Branch petition
now has 473 signatures and the list of signatures from both petitions will be
presented to the Council meeting, assuming that the R13 support group send us their
signatures. The local petition was set up before the branch one and has 571
signatures. Deb sent out basic posters for the branch petition on 28th April. UCU
campaigns team couldn’t put our link in the weekly email as the change.org website is
generates spam emails – next time we should use the 38degrees petitions website.
Regional/national centre reps meeting on 10th April and another one planned for 8th
May – we wanted to get them involved and have asked them to send us reasons for
keeping regional centres.
Letter for Council members to be written for the 13th May meeting.
Meridian asked how the senate vote would be linked in. Pauline said that the senate
motion will be part of the letter to Council members.
Petition needs more signatures, especially from OU staff; Deb to identify OU staff
from the signatures list.
The SPRC paper on Region 13 will be going to the OU Council meeting so there will
be a discussion over the closure of region 13 and potential redundancies.
Meridian suggested we contact the Faculty Deans and ask for their support for
Region 13. She also asked if there’s a strategic overview for the VCE’s decision; the
OU council should be monitoring the long-term strategic plan.
Roger reported that the VCE makes operational decisions, eg to close a building
whereas the OU council will approve or reject the redundancies decision.
Academic and Research Staff Promotions Scheme
Our questions have gone to the JNC and we are waiting for the answers.
Jonathan reported that he received positive feedback for UCU when he sent an email
to all Central academics and another member said that the current scheme is not fit
for purpose.
PGCE – Lesley and Judy are dealing with the potential redundancy of ITE tutors. .
Pauline clarified that there should be no compulsory redundancies amongst the
internal staff affected by the PGCE withdrawal.
Faculty of Business & Law (FBL) - Following a qualifications and curriculum review
DS
LK
PC
DS
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9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
10
10.1
it is proposed to downgrade 10 G8 staff to G7 (4 years protected salary).
Proposed Management Guidance on Staff Use of Recording Devices at
Meetings
Guidance does not reflect discussion of UCU’s concerns UCU raised with HR. Legal
advice to members is not to covertly record meetings but to contact us if they have
concerns.
Meridian reported that some disabled staff need to be able to record a meeting in
order to help them digest the information and the meeting notes often don’t reflect
what was said in the meeting.
Covert recordings – Lesley reported that the OU are saying there could be
disciplinary action if staff record meetings secretly. We need to refer this issue back
to the JNC. Lesley said there was often an issue of accuracy with the notes provided
by the OU of redundancy appeals, and of other meetings that have a significant
impact of people’s lives. People need to be sure there is an objective record of these
proceedings.
Costas reported that it is a basic human rights issue to be allowed to make a
recording of a meeting; recordings can be used as evidence in employment tribunals.
John reported that people can record a meeting but if they then share the recording
with others, it becomes a dubious legal issue.
Zero Tolerance Policy towards threats and harassment of staff by students and
others
It was agreed that general principles and specific policy provisions are to be further
discussed outside of JNC. David Knowles and Pauline will be the union side and
await confirmation of management side. Lesley suggested this could be an article in
the Spark – Deb has asked David if he can write something.
Stephen reported that he’s had a reply from Martin Bean asking him to take the issue
up with Keith Zimmerman – Pauline asked Stephen to speak to David K.
Organisational Change policy
Pauline and Lydia had a productive meeting on 28th April – this new policy will be
beneficial to both HR and the UCU branch. The policy will mean that UCU gets
involved earlier in any restructuring process. Other universities already have
Organisational change policies and best practice from these could help with the
development of OU policy.
Agile Working Policy Consultation
We now have until 12th May to submit comments. Pauline is working on a draft based
on the union’s paper presented to JNC, which focuses on the need for an institution
wide approach to flexible working and key concerns identified within the document.
Many thanks to Kate for her comprehensive feedback.
JNC TEAM
DS/DK
HON SECRETARY’S REPORT - LESLEY
AL Terms and Conditions - In view of management’s response it seems unlikely
there will be an agreed clarification to AL response time to queries and
communications soon for the Code of Conduct. The other agreed changes to the AL
T&Cs are mostly routine or slightly in our favour (such as the removal of the reference
to the Student Charter from the T&Cs). These have already been agreed by the AL
reps Committee and the executive. It was agreed that we should to tell management
to go ahead with the agreed changes now, which are better than the un-agreed
version currently on TutorHome. The changes are either routine updating of names,
or slightly in our favour such as 10 working days TMA turnaround time instead of 14
calendar days.
It was agreed that we can agree to these changes without a ballot. There are
separate issues over the AL code of conduct where one of the faculties does not want
to agree to the changes in relation to AL response time to student queries.
Judy reported that the AL reps committee was asked to agree to the change that our
ALWG negotiators put forward and most reps agreed, one didn’t and the OU have
now come back with a proposal that’s far worse. (48 hours or 3-4 days and the
current wording is “promptly”.)
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10.2
10.3
Fixed Term Contracts - We’ve had a response to the freedom of information request
on fixed term contract expirees, and if we submit similar requests regularly it will
partially compensate for the loss of information we received in the consultation
process. It should be made available, to provide context, to all case workers
representing members on fixed term contracts. For example it can be useful to know
whether your case is an isolated one, or if there are several other potentially
redundant fixed term staff in the same unit doing similar work.
Lesley reported that we’ve now had the data but it doesn’t include a breakdown by
unit so we will now request that to be included.
W100 redundancy consultation
This hasn’t ended the way we wanted, but some concessions were extracted from
management and the faculty:
1. No need for applications from W100 ALs for successor modules to show how they
meet the generic AL spec.
2. Guaranteed interview for all W100 applicants for the successor modules
3. ‘Assistance' in compiling application form.
4. Staff development - details to follow.
LK
LK/JE
It was suggested that we need to consult with AL members over the AL code of
conduct issues.
11
HON TREASURER’S REPORT - STEPHEN
Stephen reported that the OU have paid the first invoice to cover Pauline’s expenses
(1 night per week, travel and accommodation only) Q1 of 2014, £3800.
12
STAFF GROUP REPORTS
12.1
AL OFFICER’S REPORT - JUDY
Judy reported that the AL reps discussed the marking boycott and decided that ALs
should add comments to the script and PT3 form as usual but give no mark; or enter
zero grade on the ETMA system. It was also agreed that ALs should add a note to
the PT3 form about the UCU industrial action.
Eric said that we need to make it easy for ALs to take part in the boycott (should it go
ahead) and most AL reps were unhappy about the boycott.
David Houpt thinks that students will be able to guess their score from the comments
and this action exposes ALs to student pressure.
Bruce reported that students don’t get the mark, ALs keep that but if ALs don’t do the
TMA marking then the OU may well withhold pay.
Judy said that students should get their teaching feedback so TMA comments should
be given as normal, it’s just the mark/score that would be withheld until the boycott is
finished.
AL disciplinary procedures – there is currently an action of suspension without pay
that can go on for 15 months. Should there be a different disciplinary procedure for
Residential school tutors who are different to ALs? Yes the Exec agreed and so the
AL working group will progress this.
Eric asked the Exec to agree on the marking boycott advice – should the boycott go
ahead on 6th May – pending the results of the pay dispute ballot? Yes this advice was
agreed by the Exec.
12.2
ALWG
1. Mark the TMA script as normal, with appropriate comments
2. Fill in the TMA (PT3) form comments as normal but add an explanation of the UCU
industrial action, explaining why there is no mark at this time
3. Paper TMAs do not put marks in either the question or the total boxes
4. ETMAs put 0 in the mark boxes
12.3
12.4
AL reps committee - With the advent of SSTs, it was felt that AL reps should take on
a specialty in addition to their region/nation. This might be Faculty or SST. This will be
discussed more fully at the next AL reps meeting, but needs to be sorted before
October 2014 when the call for nominations for AL reps goes out.
AL working group – Judy reported that the AL interim agreement is on the Agenda
AL REPS
Page 4 of 5
for the AL working group meeting on 6th May; it will be Tessa Holroyde’s last meeting
as she is leaving the OU
13
EQUALITY OFFICER’S REPORT - COSTAS
Equality data for internal staff and ALs is available on the OU website and Deb has
now sent this link to Costas:
http://www.open.ac.uk/equality-diversity/node/10
14
CENTRAL ACADEMIC STAFF OFFICER’S REPORT – JONATHAN
Jonathan spoke about the email he sent to all Central academics and now has a list
of their issues. Pauline wants to speak to Jonathan about the study leave issues.
15
CENTRAL ACADEMIC-RELATED STAFF OFFICER’S REPORT - KATE
Kate spoke about the survey she has developed for Academic-related staff to
prioritise a list of their issues – this will be launched in the next issue for the Spark
and Kate has already written an article called “Are you academic-related?”
Meridian asked about branch advice for academic and academic-related staff on how
they can support the making boycott. Pauline said that when the ballot results are out,
if the marking boycott is still going ahead, then we’ll issue branch advice.
16
REGIONAL/NATIONAL ACADEMIC STAFF OFFICER’S REPORT – PHILIP
No report.
17
REGIONAL/NATIONAL ACADEMIC-RELATED STAFF OFFICER’S REPORT
Position currently vacant.
18
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Pauline reported that a request has been made to increase her facility time from 3
days to five days per week due to excessive workload. . The OU in Ireland Nation
Director has agreed to this and Lydia will now chase it up with HR.
Lesley also mentioned that we don’t have enough facility time and John James needs
to be given a larger allocation, to cover all the member meetings he’s attended with
UCU members in Region 13.
Apologies to Jeni as the ROCC update was on the back of the agenda, but wasn’t
listed on the agenda and so didn’t get discussed. Deb has now added it to the top of
the next Exec agenda. ROCC would like to hold a social event on the Mulberry
lawn on the day of the next Exec meeting – further information before the next
meeting.
TSA process has been discussed at the last AL working group meeting.
19
PC/JH
PC
PC/LR
ALL EXEC
MEMBERS
DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS
Wednesday 25th June Exec meeting 4 @ 12noon
Tuesday 23rd Sept Exec meeting 5 @ 10.30am – branch meeting at 12.30
Wednesday 19th Nov Exec meeting 6 @ 10.30am – AGM at 12.30
ps – should all names be removed from future Exec minutes or just names of members who are
not on the Exec?
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