MARS Attacks – 2

In a recent panto, the Baroness Hardup chose to have Hardup Hall converted at great expense in the hope of attracting wealthy paying guests eager for an aristocratic experience. Sad to say her guests were less than impressed when they realised that the Baroness had no money left to pay for a butler, housekeeping staff or a chef. They left muttering something about fur coats and a lack of undergarments.

And the moral?

With savings of £10 million to make, one would have thought it best to keep one’s finances in order by curbing non-essential expenditure and committing funds to ensure that the core business could be delivered effectively. In a ‘people’ industry that means ensuring that there are enough staff to protect the service to students who may well consider that the smell of fresh paint is no substitute for access to a tutor.

MARS Attacks – 1

Management is keen to affirm that the upcoming MARS scheme is most definitely NOT a redundancy scheme.

The fact is that the claimed mutuality of the scheme is skewed heavily towards the employer who has the ultimate say on who can go and who must stay. In reality the reason redundancy is being avoided is to circumvent legal obligations, but if it walks like a duck……

As Transparent as a Mix of Earth and Water

In her recent email outlining financial challenges and the need to save £10 millions in the next financial year, the VC re-affirmed a commitment to significant capital investment regardless of impending job cuts.

She also ‘promised to be transparent as we face these challenges together’ although this sadly comes hot on the heels of a point-blank refusal to share cost/benefit analysis of current and future capital plans.

It is reasonable to assume that capital expenditure in such difficult times must show a tangible and worthwhile return – so what exactly is there to be coy about?

Top of the (?)hit Parade

Members will know that a most important aspect of UCU branch business is in supporting member colleagues when they are faced with difficulties in the workplace, whether that be with a line manager, a colleague, or the machinery of central administration.

Branch records show that in the four calendar years since 2020 the Faculty of Management, Law & Social Sciences has consistently been the source of significantly more casework than other areas of the institution, although with the Faculty of Health Studies hot on their heels their continued grip on this somewhat dubious honour is increasingly being challenged!

Any Questions?

The Vice Chancellor has announced an open session to hear more about the University’s response to the financial challenges referred to in her recent video address, the impact of the efficiency measures that she announced, and an update on the financial forecast.

Colleagues will also no doubt be delighted to hear about the planned refurbishment of Student Central and JBP Library in the context of those financial challenges.

There will in addition be an opportunity for staff to pose questions to the executive team and we encourage all staff to make the most of this opportunity.

Book a place – Open session 14th March 10-11am

Setting the Record Straight

The recent attempt to persuade members of Senate that campus trade unions had been consulted and given approval to a recovery strategy can be described at best as evidence that management were labouring under some kind of misapprehension.

The less generous might consider that such claims were a deliberate attempt to convince Senate members that the plans must be entirely benign by relying on the inference that CTU’s are content.

Needless to say, those claims were most vehemently rejected and the phrase removed from texts, but management need to go MUCH further to ensure that this notion is fully expunged.

Tell your colleagues – UCU most definitely HAS NOT done any such thing, nor indeed accepts that any meaningful consultation has taken place.

Slimming World

The recent VC video has perhaps left members with several unanswered questions.

We are assured however that immediate cost saving measures are to be implemented, with a senior member of the University now required to authorise proposed printing, which on the face of it does seem rather like re-arranging the deckchairs.

In addition, meetings hospitality is to be scaled back to save money; that really does quite literally ‘take the biscuit’!

Hot Potato?

The recently released version of the Children on Campus policy is notable in particular for failing to take a decisive approach on the issues it aims to address. The policy instead places the burden of decision-making upon the academic, who under the policy is faced with brokering agreement between students with children, those sympathetic with their needs, and those who find the presence of children in the classroom distracting. One would have thought that the potential for conflict between staff and students, or between students themselves, is blindingly obvious.

This lack of clarity suggests perhaps that consultation could have been a little more rounded, to ensure that it adequately captured the views and needs of those at the ‘coal face’ (academics and others) for whom the presence of children on campus has at times been a particularly thorny issue.

One would further hope that ultimate ‘ownership’ of the policy rests with People & Development rather than CfID, so that appropriate awareness of, and access to, the policy could be ensured by placing it alongside the numerous other employees focussed policies.

Any Questions?

The recently published address by the VC raises many questions, and a Q&A session is scheduled for 12 noon tomorrow (Thursday 25th Jan) in the Great Hall.

You can rest assured that UCU Bradford LA will be seeking its own assurances, but in the meantime this is your chance to find out more about the implications of the recruitment shortfall.

We urge all members to attend and to encourage colleagues to join them.

Reward Yourself…

….with a visit to the Campus Trade Union stand at the Staff Rewards Day event.

Bring a colleague and they can sign up TODAY!