Don’t Forget To Vote:

Posted on 23 July 2020 by isaac

There is just over a week to go for UCU members to vote in the consultation on the final “four fights” offer made by UCEA on behalf of higher education employers.

This is a very important e-ballot and it is crucial that all of our members use their democratic right to vote.

The “four fights” are pay, gender and race pay gaps, workload, and casualised work.

The UCEA offer is here.

National UCU negotiators believe that the current offer represents “significant movement” on three (pay inequality, workload, and casualised work) of the four fights, but “falls short on the fullest extent of our demands”.

Our negotiators decided to consult members. Their statement can be found here.

The UCU Higher Education Committee (HEC) are advising the offer should be rejected.

The ballot itself contains further information from UCU negotiators on why the offer should be rejected.

All members eligible to vote should have received an email from CES (Civica Election Services) with a unique link to vote.

If you did not receive your e-ballot, click here.

The ballot will close next week, at noon on Wednesday 29th July 2020.

Negotiations Update:

Posted on 23 July 2020 by isaac

Cardiff UCU negotiators met with University management on Monday 13th July, primarily to discuss plans to re-open University buildings.

University management are legally required to engage in meaningful consultations with the campus unions about this.

Negotiators have been asserting the need for management to meaningfully engage with us on building risk assessments, including the opportunity for engagement of our Health and Safety Reps.

We do not feel that this obligation has currently been met.

Survey Results: Covid-19 Working Lives

Posted on 23 July 2020 by isaac

Cardiff UCU surveyed members on their experiences of working during the first two months of the Covid-19 “lockdown”.

We received over 200 responses from Cardiff UCU members. Thank you to all the Cardiff UCU members who completed the survey!

Our report on the findings is available here.

In this report, we focus on the impact of lockdown on our working lives, and specifically covering:

Workloads and working practices
Wellbeing, health and safety
Parenting and caring responsibilities

Cardiff UCU Executive Committee will use the findings of the survey to inform our approach to negotiations with University management.

We hope to report on our members’ purchasing of equipment, and their views on the management and Cardiff UCU responses to the crisis, at a later stage.

Thank you to our fantastic team of volunteers who designed and analysed the survey and wrote the report!