On Thursday 12th December 2023, representatives of the Cambridge UCU Justice 4 College Supervisors (J4CS) campaign met with representatives of the Colleges and the Office of Intercollegiate Services (OIS). Present at that meeting:
Cambridge UCU: Max Long (Research Fellow, Jesus College), Lydia Richards (UCU regional official), Matthew Lloyd Roberts (UCU Postgraduate Rep), Emily Sandford (UCU Casualisation Rep).
Colleges and OIS: Richard Anthony (Chair, Bursars’ Committee), Judith Bunbury (Associate Secretary, Senior Tutors’ Committee), Malcolm Millbrook (Deputy Head of OIS).
As agreed in previous discussions, this meeting was reserved for discussions on the J4CS campaign’s demand for fair pay for undergraduate supervisors in Cambridge. This meeting was a continuation of previous discussions about pay in the meeting on November 9th.
The College side informed the UCU campaigners that there had been some disquiet about the recent petition of support launched by the campaign and that, for a variety of reasons, this threatened the mandate of the College representatives to meet with the campaigners. There was a frank discussion about the need for and use of campaign activities and the J4CS campaigners agreed to more transparency about future activities. Both sides reiterated their desire to continue with the productive discussions with the aim of finding a solution to the problems raised by the campaign.
Both sides discussed the possibility of linking supervisor pay to the University of Cambridge’s pay spine and its associated pay spine, which is set in line with national negotiations between unions and employers. The role profiles under discussion at this meeting were the University’s Grade 6 and Grade 7. The J4CS campaign argued that Grade 7 is the most appropriate role profile for undergraduate supervisors. A version of both role profiles, along with notes compiled by the campaign, will be presented to representatives of the Senior Tutors and Bursars for discussion in January. Both sides agreed that clarity on this issue will be crucial for developing a sustainable pay proposal for the undergraduate supervision system.
We also discussed the joint survey of undergraduate supervisors, which is due to be launched in Lent Term. This is now finalised, although some questions surrounding data handling and analysis remain to be resolved before its release.
We agreed to resume these discussions after the winter break, with meetings scheduled on 25th January and 8th February.