Motion on Anti-Casualisation

Motion on Anti-casualisation for Oct 12 2018 GM
12 Oct 2018 at 13:00 – 14:00, Room 4, Mill Lane Lecture Rooms

This branch notes:

That data and testimony gathered by the CUCU anti-casualisation working group has highlighted major issues of concern regarding the use of precarious contracts;
That the University is employing staff on worker contracts via the Temporary Employment Service (TES) with unacceptably poor employment rights, shutting them out of access to adequate sick pay, maternity pay, notice periods and even access to University cards;
That hourly-paid teaching rates do not fairly reflect the preparation time required for the work;
That practices in the allocation and support of hourly-paid teaching vary wildly, with some departments operating non-transparent hiring and work allocation practices and failing to provide access to basic facilities such as teaching spaces;
That rates of pay for examining and assessment work, set in University Ordinances, have been frozen since 2008.
That many ‘early career’ teaching and postdoctoral research jobs are being poorly constructed and do not allow for career development;
That precariously-employed members played a key role in the industrial action over USS;
That action on precarious contracts is a key part of the current dispute on pay and equality.

This branch believes:

That all staff deserve fair employment rights;
That casualisation is harmful to individuals and to the research and teaching goals of the University;
That it is time this University took measures to increase job security and fairness in rates of pay, and that they should commit to time-limited negotiations on improvements in pay and conditions.

The branch resolves:

To finalise a claim to be put to the University to, in the first instance, address conditions for TES staff, hourly-paid teaching staff and ‘early career’ teachers and researchers;
That the claim should be submitted to management no later than 31 Nov 2018;
To support the work of the anti-casualisation working group and increase the profile of the union’s campaign;
That progress on negotiations shall be reported back to meetings of the branch and of the anti-casualisation working group;
For the anti-casualisation working group to continue to gather data and run campaigns on other areas of precarity and low pay at the University.

– motion carried