Thursday 24-03-2022 - 13:38

SU Officers: response from Vice-Chancellor regarding the strikes
 

In February, we wrote to the Vice-Chancellor asking her to do all she can to end this current wave of industrial action, recognise and act on the concerns of staff, and get students back learning.

 

Earlier this month, we received the following response. We have since responded with the letter at the bottom of this article, emphasising our commitment to student representation and asking the Vice-Chancellor to act on the elements of this dispute within her and the University’s control.

 

Dear Seun, Charlie, Declan, Jonah and Jack

Thank you for your email. I very much welcome your writing to me. We are totally committed to delivering a high-quality student experience, within a diverse and respectful environment. This can only happen within a thriving community of both staff and students.

We are aware of how difficult the situation is for everybody. This is a national dispute affecting the whole sector. This cannot be solved locally or by any one institution. They are also issues where opinions vary. It is important that we continue to work together as a community in the best interests of our students. I have received many letters from students deeply concerned about the interruption to their learning, particularly after the difficult experiences of the pandemic. I trust that the Student Union will continue to support and represent them while explaining to them the complexities of this national dispute.

I have tried to answer your questions as briefly as I can in this letter. However, more detailed responses to your questions will be published on our student FAQs page for full transparency.

Student learning

The education of our students is our highest priority, and we are sympathetic to our student concerns, many of which have been shared with us directly. We are doing everything we can through a mitigations policy to ensure that students have access to learning opportunities and are able to fulfil the learning outcomes of their programme.

UCU’s alternative proposal

On the USS dispute, we welcomed the decision by UCU to submit alternative proposals. Both UEC and the Chair and Finance Committee of Council considered the UCU proposals carefully. Time was of the essence in avoiding a worse outcome. We reluctantly concluded the UCU proposals were unworkable. This is explained in full at www.durham.ac.uk/industrial-action.

We do share some common ground with UCU in that we believe that, as a matter of urgency, there is a need to accelerate discussions with stakeholders on reform of the USS scheme. We are committed to working with other universities to urge UUK to consider a more flexible long-term option for staff pensions and we are happy to share more as we try to take this forward.

We have a concern over the fact that current member contributions are already leading to a high opt-out rate and resulting in inter-generational unfairness. We have raised this and other issues with UUK in the past where they affect our staff, and please be assured we will continue to do so.

Wider issues

We have a good working relationship with our recognised trade unions, including UCU, and by working in partnership, we have made some positive change over the last two years in the areas of pay, workload, employment and equality, summarised here.

We are certainly not complacent and know there is more to be done in these areas with time. We’re thankful for the support DUSU and our recognised trade unions give us, and we’d welcome continuation of our partnership working in these areas.

As a result of the review into casual working arrangements, led by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost and completed working in partnership with UCU, the University’s preferred position is now to offer an employment contract, with university terms and conditions.

Pay deductions for ASOS

One particular form of ASOS that UCU has chosen to deploy for the first time during this period of industrial action is to “remove uploaded materials related to, and/or not to share materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action”.  This directly affects ability of students to learn materials taught on their course. We have a duty to both our students, and to our regulatory bodies, to mitigate this risk, which I hope you’ll acknowledge.

I hope this email addresses all the questions raised but please come back to me if you require further clarification. Ultimately, I’d ask everyone in the Durham community to base their actions on mutual respect, and in the understanding that this is a complex national issue for the university sector as a whole.

We have tried to share as much information as possible throughout the dispute on the university website: https://www.durham.ac.uk/industrial-action, and we will continue to do so.

Regards,

Professor Karen O’Brien

Vice-Chancellor and Warden

 

 

Dear Vice-Chancellor,

 

Thank you for your response. We are grateful to you for taking the time to write back to us.

We look forward to continuing to work with you to lessen the impact of the industrial action on students.

Durham students are at the heart of our response to the strikes. After all, students recognise the broad impact issues raised by the four fights has on our learning experience within the institution. Though we welcome all efforts to support students throughout this period of industrial action, through our formal policy discussion and our collection of over 1,500 postcards from students, the message has always been clear from students: the only way

for us to get our education back, and for our University community to be a thriving centre of learning, is to look long-term and resolve the dispute.

This week, the UCU has undertaken further strike days and are likely to pursue escalating tactics – tactics that, by necessity, will further risk students’ learning experiences. We are disappointed that this is where the University and Universities UK has led our community. Such tactics and such impact on students would not be necessary were the dispute resolved in favour of our staff.

We understand that elements of this dispute must be settled nationally and we look forward to an update on your efforts to urge Universities UK to work towards a more favourable pension scheme.

There is, however, more that can be done on a local level. We hear regularly from our postgraduate research students about the effects of the issues that the UCU ask for action on: casualisation, workload, reducing the disproportionate gender and ethnicity pay gap, and fair pay. We welcome your recognition that there is more to be done in these areas. This must be done through genuine and meaningful engagement with the UCU and other staff trade unions. We urge you to work in true partnership and respect the expertise of the staff who work for you on their own working conditions.

 

We continue to ask that:

· The university works with UCU locally to address issues raised in the Four Fights dispute and progresses the work outlined within the Joint Statement on Casualisation.

· As Vice Chancellor, you use your influence within Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employer Association to re-enter meaningful discussions with UCU nationally regarding the USS pension scheme.

· Where postgraduate students are working as GTA’s, they are afforded the same employment rights and conditions as other teaching staff.

 

Yours sincerely,
 

Seun Twins, Charlie Procter, Declan Merrington, Jonah Graham & Jack Ballingham

Durham Students’ Union Sabbatical Officer Team