Dear UCU members,
Please find below an update on recent events following the meeting of the Reading UCU branch committee yesterday (2nd February).
1. Ian Bland having stepped down as RUCU President, the committee has (in accordance with our rules) unanimously elected Dr Paul Hatcher as Acting President until the next AGM in June 2011. Paul was previously Vice President and we are extremely grateful to him for taking on this role.
2. Officers from RUCU committee met with senior University managers early in January to discuss our dispute with the University. At that point, most of the job losses that the University had required under reshaping had been made by voluntary severance, but there was still one post loss outstanding in Chemistry, and one in Film, Theatre and Television. At that meeting, the University announced that it would not be pursuing the loss of these two posts, and thus no compulsory redundancies among academic staff would now take place as a result of the current reshaping exercise. While we regret most aspects of the reshaping process, not least the huge amount of stress it has placed on many staff, we believe that this outcome reflects the pressure placed on the management by RUCU throughout the reshaping process. However, we remain in dispute with the University while the possibility of compulsory redundancies remains for support staff (including some academic-related staff) in the School of Systems Engineering.
3. Following an Employment Tribunal case involving Lancaster University, which after they appealed the outcome and lost has become employment law, Universities are under a legal obligation to significantly alter and improve their procedures for making fixed-term contract staff redundant where contracts are not being renewed. RUCU officials met recently with HR staff to begin to negotiate a procedure for this. We strongly urge fixed-term contract staff to join UCU in order that their interests can be represented.
4. As recently circulated by e-mail, the University Council has decided to take further the transfer of the University’s Halls estate to an external provider; further information is available here:
https://www.reading.ac.uk/closed/staffportal/staffonly/hot-topics/spsn-allstransfer.aspx Staff may be affected in a number of ways, for example, redundancy, pensions, TUPE conditions, accommodation (some staff live in), what’s being transferred over etc. We urge any of our members who are engaged in any way with a Hall of Residence to contact Paul Gallagher [p.gallagher@reading.ac.uk] so that we can provide specific advice and support.
5. RUCU committee is made up of volunteers who work to represent our members’ interests to University management. We are keen to hear from anyone who can offer time (however much or little), expertise or enthusiasm to our committee, or to work alongside committee members. Please contact me if you would like further information.
With best wishes,
Alice Drewery
RUCU Secretary
