The Courier Article

You may be interested to read the latest article in The Courier, regarding academic restructures.  http://abercourier.com/2012/05/teaching-staff-union-speaks-out-on-university-reorganisation/

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Aber Uni Drops 31 Places in Uni Guide

http://abercourier.com/2012/05/aber-uni-drops-31-places-in-university-guide/ 

Academic Restructures

UCU Aberystwyth's view:

We oppose all compulsory redundancies, particularly where these will result in a reduction in administrative support for teaching and research. We have asked Management to negotiate on an avoidance of redundancy policy.

The restructuring should not be used as a pretext for downgrading roles. If individuals are made to apply for new roles, these should be graded in partnership with the appropriate trade union.

Representatives of staff and students (trade unions, the Guild, the Senate) should be involved fully in restructuring decisions. Effective change is made with the input of representations from unions and not without it.

Any transfer of departments to Llanbadarn should be accompanied by a clear commitment from AU to upgrade facilities to a suitable standard.

A workable alternative must be put in place for the roles of faculties and Deans in ensuring teaching quality and electing staff representatives to senate.

As many staff as possible should attend one of the departmental merger consultations: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/university/reconfiguration/index.php . UCU would be pleased to hear from members regarding the alternatives to the suggested realignments.  Please email us confidentially on ucu-aber@hotmail.co.uk and we will put your views to Management.

Colleagues should encourage non-members to join a union.  Without membership they will not be entitled to the benefits.

You may be interested to see how The Courier, the student newspaper is carrying the story of academic reorganisation: http://abercourier.com/2012/05/university-announces-massive-reorganisation/

Increase in membership

Our membership in Aberystwyth is at its highest level ever.  This is mainly due to the hard work local UCU staff and officers in recruiting new members.    UCU is recognised as the voice of professional staff throughout higher education. It is taking action at national level to improve the pay and conditions of all staff eligible for membership, and to be as effective as possible it needs your support.  In Aberystwyth, the UCU Local Association represents the interests of professional staff to AU management, and negotiates on behalf of all UCU-eligible staff over terms and conditions. Again, your support puts us in a stronger position.  UCU provides help and advice to members when they encounter difficulties in employment, but just as you would for insurance or a breakdown contract, you need to be a member beforehand to benefit from such help.   

You can help on a local level by joining the executive committee.

AGM

Our Annual General Meeting will be on Wednesday 27 June @12:30 in D5 Hugh Owen.  Please come along. Agenda and nomination papers to follow.  If you would like to be part of the local association (meet with members, attend workplace meetings, advise on policy) please let Dr Joe Ironside know (jei@aber.ac.uk).  Being part of the local association can be as much or as little as you feel you can manage.  During these uncertain times, the more assistance we have, the better position we will be in. 

Meeting with Management

Following concerns from our members, we shall be meeting with Management soon to discuss several urgent matters:

a.      Management of Change  

b.      Departmental ‘realignments’ 

c.      Concerns regarding the HERA process

e.      AU travel and subsistence rates.

f.       Academic staff and changes to contracts of employment

We shall keep members updated. 

Join the Union

Campus Unions are working together for the benefit of the university and its staff.    Unions can only represent their members; so please join if you haven't already done so.
http://www.ucu.org.uk/join
http://www.unitetheunion.org/my_unite__join_online/join_online.aspx
http://www.unison.org.uk/membership/