| Three dystopian futures – The Big Conversation/Y Sgwrs Fawr Stealth restructures? Update on negotiation on relevant factors –improving contracts for people on precarious contracts Info & meeting about grading Info on freedom of speech regarding Palestine Anti Racism March Sunday 17th March Graduate Tutor/Demonstrator contracts – info and survey Resource on bullying and harassment Letter on fossil fuelsUCU worker’s café – AI Discussion Open Democracy article on money poured into UK universities Anti-Casualisation – Cardiff unimpressive in new UCU ranking on working conditions for researchers And in case you missed it, Cardiff University fixing apparent recruitment problems with new font and shade of red |
| Three dystopian futures – The Big Conversation/Y Sgwrs Fawr |
| Many of you will have seen the video setting out three possible futures for Cardiff University, and been invited to School consultations on these. Members have been in touch to say they have been negatively affected by the dark and dystopian visions presented and disappointed by the quality of the thinking behind them. |
| It seems petty to point out that Cardiff is projected to be submerged by rising sea levels rather than afflicted by droughts as shown in the video, but there are more missteps: an absence of humanities disciplines amid plentiful mentions of STEM subjects and a fundamental unwillingness to imagine a hopeful and positive future that we can play an important part in constructing. As an academic community of staff and students who spend a formative part of our lives together, we are well-placed to challenge structures and practices that lead to dystopias, even though latterly we are more often told to conform to forces and structures than to challenge them, as though they were as inevitable as the bleak outlook of the videos. |
| Towards the end of last year, Cardiff UCU outlined a set of positive ideas we distilled from members’ meetings. The resulting vision for the future was approved by a branch General Meeting on 16 November last year and presented to the Vice Chancellor in January, although we do see much evidence that it was taken into account. The document is available on the branch website. While there is much more we wish to say, you may find aspects from which to draw inspiration for the ‘consultation’ we are asked to perform. Cardiff UCU is clear that conformity to harmful supposed inevitable is a dead-end and presenting bleak scenarios so that slightly less bleak scenarios suddenly look appealing is an underhand method, not an honest conversation. |
| Stealth restructures |
| The Cardiff UCU executive committee met on 13 March to discuss the rapid changes affecting our members – in particular professional services staff – and we have decided to call for a special meeting of the Joint Consultative and Negotiating Forum. This is the formal meeting where the campus trade unions and university senior management meet to discuss issues requiring collective agreement. Sweeping centralisation has been brought in (e.g.timetabling, research services) with no serious trade union consultation of the effects and impact on staff roles and conditions. |
| We are also aware that schools have been asked to increase their financial contributions to the university, again, without union consultation. In practice, this can only be achieved through a mixture of cuts to staff and other budgets; increased student numbers with no increased staff;increased international students. All of these options will have detrimental effects on professional services, academic staff, student support, etc. We are very concerned about the impact on staff health, safety and wellbeing due to increased workloads, as well as the uncertainty and anxiety caused by these organisational changes. |
| If anyone has any information on any of this, please contact the branch and share it with us at ucu@cardiff.ac.uk. |
| Update on negotiation on relevant factors – reminder and callout for affected members |
| Cardiff UCU has been negotiating with the university for a year following our claim for the university to stop its use of open-ended contracts with relevant factors (henceforth: ‘OERF’). We believe the use of ‘relevant factors’ is a way the university circumvents its legal duties to provide permanent employment to those who have been employed fixed-term for four years or more. |
| On the advice of UCU’s legal team, and in line with the views of branch members at our meeting in November, we have rejected the university’s latest offer, which did not propose to stop the use of this contract type altogether (the only acceptable position to our members on OERF contracts). We have proposed a one-year transition period during which the university converts all staff on OERFs onto permanent contracts. We also propose that they give consideration to converting staff on fixed-term contracts for 4 years onto permanent contracts. |
| Where we are now |
| We are now building detailed information about the experience of staff on open-ended contracts with relevant factors, to help inform potential legal action. We are particularly interested in hearing if being on an open-ended contract with relevant factors has led to any disadvantages relative to staff on fully open-ended contracts – e.g. if you have been unable to serve as a Principal Investigator on a grant, if you have been prevented from obtaining new computers or equipment, or anything else. |
| Info & meeting about grading Info on freedom of speech regarding Palestine |
| We sent a letter to the Vice Chancellor and University Executive Board expressing the concerns our members and students have regarding the university’s response to the war against Palestine, and the climate of fear they experience around expressing support for Palestine. UCU (local and national) will defend any members who experience threats to their academic freedom and freedom of speech: contact the Cardiff UCU office if you have any concerns. Please also look at these resources on defending your advocacy of Palestine in the Higher Education Context. Jenny Sherrard is the Head of Equality and Policy at national UCU, and she is keen to hear from members on issues members might be experiencing around this: JSherrard@ucu.org.uk |
| We are also compiling resources to share. If you have any resources or information that you use in teaching around this topic, please send to the branch. |
| You can read about reasons to support an academic boycott of Israel here. |
| Anti Racism March Sunday 17th March |
| The branch is supporting the MARCH AGAINST RACISM organised by Wales TUC Cymru and Black Lives Matter Cardiff & Vale. |
| Where? 11am, Senedd, Pierhead St, Cardiff CF99 1SNWhen? Sunday 17th March |
| Followed by Afrocluster performance at Grange Gardens, Cardiff, CF11 7LJ – at the end of the March |
| Graduate Tutor/Demonstrator contracts – info and survey |
| Contracts for graduate tutors and demonstrators were implemented at the start of academic year 2023. Now that a full semester has been completed with the new contracts, Cardiff UCU and the Students’ Union have developed a survey for PGRs experiences: https://cardiffstudents.typeform.com/to/Kz6SiZt9 |
| Please share the survey and encourage other PGRs to fill it out too. |
| Cardiff UCU have also produced frequently asked questions leaflets about the new contracts, as we have received feedback that not everyone knows who they are suitable for and what the benefits are. These leaflets should be shared with staff who have responsibility for graduate tutors/demonstrators as well as PGRs. |
| Resource on bullying and harassment |
| Paul Brennan and a colleague in MEDIC recorded a conversation around harassment and bullying, that could be of interest here and to our members in general. This has been packaged alongside some links to useful links to other resources in this Padlet: |
| https://cardiff.padlet.org/reedkr1/a-conversation-about-harassment-and-bullying-d4mmfp412k0fkymr |
| Towards the end of last year, Cardiff UCU outlined a set of positive ideas we distilled from members’ meetings. The resulting vision for the future was approved by a branch General Meeting on 16 November last year and presented to the Vice Chancellor in January, although we do see much evidence that it was taken into account. The document is attached to this e-mail and while there is much more we wish to say, you may find aspects from which to draw inspiration for the ‘consultation’ we are asked to perform. Cardiff UCU is clear that conformity to harmful supposed inevitable is a dead-end and presenting bleak scenarios so that slightly less bleak scenarios suddenly look appealing is an underhand method, not an honest conversation. |
| Letter on fossil fuels |
| Academics have sent a letter to the President and Council of the Royal Society of London, asking them to issue an unambiguous statement about the role of the fossil fuel industry in driving the climate crisis. |
| The text is at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18PpPNyK2GIGVDOkBq-3cZKA4agIWu494Ugk_fB58MiY/edit?usp=sharing and at http://royalsocietyletter.uk |
| You can sign it at https://forms.gle/8ZJx53SNvYUexhkL7 |
| UCU Worker’s café – AI Discussion |
| The branch will be organising an open discussion for members and non-members alike about AI and how it relates to your rights in the workplace and working conditions. |
| This will be taking place 3-5pm Wednesday, June 19th in the Glamorgan Building committee rooms so save the date. You should be able to attend as part of your CPD, but please don’t hesitate to contact the branch if you need support to arrange this with your line manager. |
| If you would like to get involved in organising the event e-mail Isaac the branch admin (ucu@cardiff.ac.uk) |
| Open Democracy article on money poured into UK universities |
| For those who missed it, our former vice chancellor is cited celebrating the fact that universities are able to hide the sources of major donors raising questions about how much money Russel group institutions are taking from arms companies: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/uk-russell-group-universities-secret-donations-millions-lobbying/ |
| UCU has produced a league table ranking how well universities are doing on casualisation of research staff |
| Read the full report here – Cardiff is not doing well. If you want to get involved in how our branch uses this information to campaign for better conditions for research staff, please email rcampbell@ucu.org.uk. The report is published on UCU’s national website: |
| https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/14258/Support-for-research-staff-2023-FOI-branch-guidance/pdf/UCU_HE_research_staff_support_FOIs_2023_-_branch_guidance.pdf |
| And finally, Cardiff University reportedly complaining of ‘not attracting the best staff’ but solution found in new font and shade of red |
| Not a joke (or at least not one being played by the branch). Members pointed this out a few months ago but in case people missed it, Cardiff University contracted an agency to do a rebrand. The agency, called Only, have published an article in which they talk about the work they have done to fix the problem that, “despite its standing, [Cardiff] university has struggled to attract the very best students and staff”. |
| To “address this and broader cultural challenges at the institution” Only has come up with a slightly different colour logo and changes to the fonts. Read the full story at Creative Boom. |
| Sarcasm aside, this raises serious questions on the priorities of senior management. While questioning the very premise of their assessment, we would suggest that improving working and learning conditions might be a more productive strategy for solving the “cultural challenges”. |
| Cardiff UCU |
Cardiff UCU
