update from management and unions meeting 30-05-2012

Progress has been made:.............UCU is working hard for its members at Aberystwyth.

AU have made a 'significant number' of fixed term posts open ended. A welcome development.  A new fixed term policy document will be presented to management.

UCU have presented HR with a Service Level Agreement document which details the level of service that HR users can expect to have from the department.   The response times to emails/letters/callers are detailed and once the agreement is in place will be a time scale to work towards. UCU have also suggested time scales for personal cases; which is one issue that does tend to take a long time to resolve and needs to be improved upon. 

A facilities agreement has now been agreed between UCU and Management. This will allow union officers time off work for union duties. 

FAQs on the new Staff Development and Performance Review (SDPR) are on the HR website.  Unions have fought hard to keep the term 'development' in the title and would urge members to ensure that it is referred to on that basis. 

Management have agreed to consider a 'policy for change' procedure. Unions were concerned that change is happening at a quick pace and would like Management to consider all relevant staffing issues when debating wide ranging changes.   Management will meet with unions when a request is made and are willing to put bi monthly meetings in the university calendar.

Council and Senate Reps:  AU will issue guidance to all reps to ensure that they are clear as to what is required of them.  All staff reps are free to report back to colleagues regarding matters discussed at Council and Senate at any point in time.  Members are asked to observe confidentiality when appropriate. 

Academic realignments will be debated at Senate following consultation with staff and students.

HERA - as per union requests, the wording of the framework agreement will be modernised and updated - not re-negotiated; just updated. For example; references to the first and second windows for appeals will be updated to provide the correct information.

REF- there should be no changes to academic contracts linked to the REF: contact our professorial rep John Gough on jug@aber.ac.uk if you have particular concerns. Management agreed to clear up any confusion that arose as a result of a confusing email sent from the research office. Management have agreed to keep UCU informed and consulted on the REF code of practice.

Advanced Information:  Management have agreed to make unions aware of any issues which will result in emails to all staff. Unions will be given advanced copies of emails so that they can prepare to deal with union members' queries.

Academic Promotions - staff should read the guidelines on the HR website. Management urge staff to apply for promotions. The new promotion procedure (union agreed) should be fair and consistent.  Any issues can be addressed to Dr. Martin Wilding mbw@aber.ac.uk.

Voluntary Severance:  12 applications for severance have been approved since we establihsed the honest broker approach in November 2011, 3 have been rejected and 1 was pending.   The figures discussed by the redundancy committee will be sent to unions in due course.  The unions 'honest broker' approach seems to be working well.

A few reminders:

• Please urge colleagues to join a union if they havent already done so; they may need help sooner rather than later.
• Please transfer your subs to direct debit to help reduce our running costs
• Please check your personal details are correct on the UCU database to ensure that you are paying the correct subs.  This could be important if you need legal assistance in the future; paying the incorrect subs could have a negative impact on access to the legal scheme. Contact Mary Ferrie in the office (mrf) to check your details.
• remember to come to the AGM on 27 June at 12:30 in D5 Hugh Owen