Sunday 26-04-2020 - 14:57

During our urgent planning in relation to Covid-19, it’s easy to forget the other areas of work we've been focussing on, so today I’m pleased to announce that the University Executive Committee recently approved several improvements to the conditions of many of the students the University employs.

This has been a result of the University’s ‘Casual Working Group,’ involving partnerships across Durham between the SU, the University and the University and College Union (UCU). This group has conducted a comprehensive review of all processes relating to casual workers engaged by the University, and of particular interest to students, agreements have been reached on:

• Piloting fixed-term contracts for postgraduates who teach, which will afford employment status and guarantee minimum hours as appropriate to relevant students, and allow for a framework of more structured support in their role
• Fair pay for each hour worked, including ensuring all necessary training time is paid, and University-wide guidance on how much time is expected to be spent marking assignments of various lengths 
• A significant increase in the pay rate for College bar staff, moving away from age-based minimum wage and onto the University ‘casual staff’ rate, currently £9.02 per hour

Improving conditions for postgraduates who teach has been the cornerstone of why I wished to be your Postgraduate Academic Officer since I first stood in 2018. These agreed improvements better recognise and reward the highly skilled work required of postgraduate teachers, and give assurance to the students they teach that the University is supporting postgraduates to teach effectively.

Though there remains much work to be done on the implementation of what has been agreed, I am pleased to have played a part in delivering such a substantial and technical piece of work for students. You can have confidence that the SU, the University, and UCU will continue to work together on its implementation in the interests of all students and staff.