Letter to the Trustees of UCU

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To the Trustees of UCU:

As members of UCU we are writing to raise concerns about management practices in UCU which carry risk for the union’s organisational capacity and reputation, with potential consequential risks to the union’s finances. Two staff members employed on 22-month casualised contracts have been served with redundancy notices, which we believe to be the first compulsory redundancies in the union’s history, and there is growing and unnecessary tension over this, and an increasing set of other matters, with the staff union, Unite.

The short contracts issued to these colleagues, and the manner of their dismissal, reflect staffing practices that our activists fight every day across further and higher education. Much of the daily work of UCU consists of trying to hold employers to basic standards of legality and appropriate behaviour. Therefore, as an employer, UCU should model good practice and treat its own staff as we wish our members to be treated. It is part of the national HE pay claim to demand 24 months as the minimum length for standard contracts. In our workplaces members would see 22-month contracts as failing to meet a basic standard of job security and a cynical way of denying minimal legal protection against unfair dismissal. Of those who raised concerns at the time when these 22-month contracts were initiated, including the then-President and members of the NEC and Anti-Casualisation Committee, some were advised the contracts could be extended – but this has not happened.

Congress confirmed the value of the ‘PGRs as Staff’ campaign and committed the national union to continue and expand the important project to support de-casualisation for early career researchers. Cutting the level of resource to this work while placing the key personnel at risk can only attract adverse comment. This will undermine UCU’s efforts to recruit PGRs, who are an essential part of building the membership base of the future.

Unite UCU have recently concluded a successful indicative ballot over the compulsory redundancies mentioned above. In addition to this, the Unite branch were in dispute with UCU in 2022 over pay and pay-related terms and conditions. Although the pay element of the 2022 dispute was eventually settled, there was no resolution to the areas of dispute related to working conditions, and the Unite UCU branch have recently declared a dispute around the lack of negotiations on a hybrid-working policy, and have raised a concern with the National Health and Safety Regulator (HSE) regarding increases in work-related stress absences and high workloads. Within the past month, the Unite branch have received a pay offer of 4%, which the branch has rejected. This well below inflation pay offer does not seem consistent with the Congress budget passed in May, which included an increase to the staffing budget of 8.5%.

We have recently learned that a second union, GMB, has been recognised by UCU to represent a subgroup of UCU staff, which appears to contravene the existing recognition agreement with Unite. Recognition agreements form the fundamental industrial relationship and are regularly under attack in UCU branches. We expect UCU itself to appreciate the importance of an agreement with its own staff union and to respect its terms. This situation would appear to create the conditions for a potential complaint from Unite to the TUC, which can result in negative publicity and financial sanctions. Such public division could be hugely damaging to UCU.

The number of ongoing disputes between UCU as an employer and its staff union have reached a level where they could have an adverse impact on the union’s effective functioning, via further dispute with the union representing UCU staff and a potential ballot for industrial action, and potential sanctions from the TUC. We ask you as UCU’s Trustees to investigate these concerns and act as necessary to safeguard the union’s organisational, reputational, and financial interests.

Sincerely,

Vicky Blake, University of Leeds UCU

Caitlin Adams, Open University UCU

Lucy Burke, Manchester Met UCU

Michael Carley, University of Bath UCU

Robyn Orfitelli, University of Sheffield UCU

John Fones, Bridgwater and Taunton College UCU

Sam Marsh, University of Sheffield UCU

S Joss, Heriot-Watt UCU

Amy Ryall, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UCU

Tom Six, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama UCU

Caleb Day, Durham University UCU

Sol Gamsu, Durham University UCU

Laura Loyola-Hernández, University of Leeds UCU

Alan Barker, University of Nottingham UCU

Madhu Krishnan, University of Bristol UCU

Cecily Blyther, Petroc UCU

Cecilia Wee, Royal College of Art UCU

Peter Wood, Open University UCU

Aris Katzourakis, Oxford University UCU

Chloe Wallace, University of Leeds UCU

Traci Walker, University of Sheffield UCU

Agnes Flues, University of Nottingham UCU

Millie Wild, New City College Hackney UCU

Grant Buttars, University of Edinburgh UCU

Draško Kašćelan, University of Essex UCU

James Cranch, University of Sheffield UCU

Catherine Fletcher, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Kyran Joughin, University of the Arts London UCU

Rhian Elinor Keyse, Birkbeck UCU

Kate Hardy, University of Leeds UCU

Marina Baldissera Pacchetti, University of Leeds UCU

Keith Simpson, City, University of London UCU

Natalie Kopytko, University of Leeds UCU

Ross Gibson, University of Strathclyde UCU

Ian Ingram, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Maria Bryan, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Xanthe Whittaker, University of Leeds UCU

Ria Deakin, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Dima Chami, University of Bristol UCU

Kathryn Brownbridge, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Kirsty Fife, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Linnie Blake, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Ryan Burns, University of Brighton UCU

Elaine White, Bradford College UCU

Matthew Gobey, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Steven Spencer, University of York UCU

Robert Stearn, Birkbeck UCU

Sherrill Stroschein, University College London UCU

David Hayes, University of Sheffield UCU

Jenny Kermally, Open University UCU

Ioana Cerasella Chis, University of Birmingham UCU

James Brackley, University of Sheffield UCU

Miguel Angel SAONA VALLEJOS, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU

Asiya Islam, University of Leeds UCU

Kate Sang, Heriot-Watt UCU

Phil Hudson, Nottingham College UCU

Will Nelson, Manchester College UCU

John James UCU Cymru Vice President, UCU Coleg Gwent - Newport

Stan Papoulias, Kings College London UCU

Anita Naoko Pilgrim, Open University UCU

Richard Bradbyrt, Open University UCU

Philip Roy McCabe, Coleg Gwent Newport UCU

Patricia Hornby Atkinson, Edge Hill University UCU

Sam Morecroft, University of Sheffield International College UCU

Madalena Lemos, Durham University UCU

Alexander James, University of Leeds UCU

Nick Evans, University of Leeds UCU

Anja Komatar, University of Leeds UCU

Emily Wheeler, University of Leeds UCU

Stephen Muir, University of Leeds UCU

Sarah Hudspith, University of Leeds UCU

Tasia Scrutton, University of Leeds UCU

Joe Rigby, University of Chester UCU

Donna Brown, Royal Holloway University of London UCU

Gavin Schwartz-Leeper, University of Warwick UCU

Morgan Rhys Powell, University of Manchester UCU

Margo Hanson, University of Leeds UCU

Kevin Biderman, University of Brighton UCU

Chris Hesketh, Oxford Brookes UCU

Dan Elphick, Royal Holloway University of London UCU

Robert Shaw, Newcastle University UCU

Deepa Govindarajan Driver, UCU NEC

Fleur Martin, University of Warwick UCU

Jonathan Saha, Durham University UCU

Aisha Walker, University of Leeds UCU

Katie Tobin, Durham University, Bournemouth University, and University of Winchester

Jarrah O'Neill, University of Cambridge UCU

Marta Duran Arranz, University of St Andrews UCU

Raul Zepeda Gil, King's College London

Graham Smith, Newcastle University

Anil Sindhwani, Durham University UCU

Abi O'Connor, University of Liverpool

Anna Judson, Durham University

Michael Pritchard, Aston University UCU

Sherene Meir, Durham UCU

Stefano Cremonesi, Durham University UCU

Ben Ralph, University of Bath UCU

Elias Yassin, King's College London UCU

Aysha Mazhar, Keele UCU

Kyra De Coninck, University of Kent

Dario Carugo, University of Oxford UCU

Julia Hope, University of Kent

Dimitra Kotouza, University of Edinburgh UCU

Rob Aitken, University of York

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