A period of change...

Aberyswyth UCU members will be aware (via the weekly email) of the re-structuring exercise within the Estates Department at the university. UCU were informed of the developments at the earliest possible stage and will be working with Senior Management to minimise the potential job losses. We hope that this new, constructive approach will be extended to AU’s possible plans for restructuring / merging of other departments within the University. Following the appointment of a new VC it is likely that the University will go through a period of change. It is presumed (and it is a presumption at this stage) that the rationale underlying these changes is, at least in part, to reduce costs and hence that redundancies will ensue at some point in the near future.

UCU appreciate that some of the proposed changes to departmental structures may not have received final authorisation from AU Council, however, in the absence of official communication, staff in the affected departments are becoming concerned. UCU have written to the VC for clarification as to which departments will be restructured/relocated. We hope to publish her reply here. As a union we will do all we can to minimise job losses during any restructuring exercises.

Members can help in the following ways:

1. Email UCU Aber (ucu-aber@aber.ac.uk) when you become aware of any potential changes to departmental structures or 'mergers'. We will then intervene and try to establish the facts.

2. Encourage non-members to join UCU: https://join.ucu.org.uk/ .

3. Transfer your own membership from salary deduction to direct debit (to keep our administrative costs low and with the aim of reducing subs at the next AGM in June). If you need a Direct Debit form, please email the adress above. This will help us make a substantial saving which can be passed on to local members in reduced subs.

4. Read this blog for the latest news http://aberucu.blogspot.com/ It will be updated as often as possible (new blogs are announced on twitter @AberUCU).

5. Finally, if you are willing to help UCU locally by attending meetings with members or distributing leaflets in your department, please respond to this email.

It is more important than ever to be part of a union and to be active in the union to help your fellow colleagues.

Flexible Working

AU has a flexible working policy (available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/hr/tandc/). UCU have been made aware that some members of staff have been refused the right to work flexible hours under this flexible working policy. Under normal circumstances management do have the right to refuse such requests where they do not meet the business need. However, in order to ensure that the policy is applied consistently, it would be useful if you could contact UCU if you have had an application refused. Local UCU would also like to hear from you if you have been successful in a request for flexible working.Thank you. 

Rationalisation of the University's Printing Services

Members will have noted the message in the weekly email for staff indicating that that the University wishes to move from individual desk top printers to ‘centralised’ printers.  In general we welcome this: centralising the service should save the university money overall, and lead to less paper consumption, less power consumption, and is therefore a  greener printing solution.

However, there were some issues raised by members and these were raised, in turn, with Information Services. Our questions are below in black, and I.S. response is in red. Comments are welcome. Email any comments to ucu-aber@aber.ac.uk or comment below.

The confidentiality of data: 

Can you confirm or explain:

a)      if the University plan to install ‘swipe’ cards for all central printers in all departments?  This would seem to be the only way to protect confidential information being accessed by all users. 

Yes, plan is to use either swipe cards or proximity cards for all printers – so confidential print outs will be protected.

b)      that there will be a centralised shredder available beside the printer 

There are currently no plans for this but it certainly could be explored.

c)      that staff who habitually handle personal or sensitive data would be made exceptions and will be permitted to keep their desktop printer 

One aim of the project is to reduce the cost and environmental impact of desktop printing. However, where strong business cases can be made to retain desktop printing this will be considered

Staff with disabilities:

This issue is a genuine consideration and there should be exceptions made for staff who have mobility issues. 

This is an important point that needs to be addressed when buildings are surveyed to ensure that all staff are able to access the service.

Disposal of equipment
 Can you explain how the University would phase out the current photocopying machines given that individual departments may have their own contracts in place with different suppliers?
Departments with their own contracts will move over to the University contract once theirs terminates. Terminating these contracts early will probably be too costly. There may be scope to integrate these existing MFPs into the central system.

Centralising scanning facilities

            It would be particularly useful if there was a centralised scanner on each photocopier / central printer as not all staff have access to a scanner. 

       It is our intention that many (if not all) of these devices will also offer scanning features.