Thanks to those of you that were able to attend our informal meeting in response to the survey circulated to staff on 16 Jun 2020, asking people to volunteer to defer increments and/or donate up to 10% gross salary to the University between Aug-Nov 2020. We had 25% of current membership attend the meeting, which was fantastic.
Following the meeting, we want to make several points absolutely clear.
- The University has not provided us with enough financial information to make us confident that the planned measures will fill the identified financial gap.
- An online ‘survey’ is not an appropriate way to conduct conversations about temporary variations to contracts.
- Please understand that there is no guarantee that we will not end up in a situation where there are either voluntary or compulsory redundancies. Also there is no link between any voluntary options individuals choose to make and whether their posts will be at risk of redundancy in the future.
Whilst ultimately individual members must make their own choice about whether to complete the survey, members at the meeting yesterday were clear in their request that the Branch provide guidance on how to respond to the survey. Therefore, the Branch Exec is suggesting the following:
- Do not answer any questions in Part A – if you do, there is an impact on your contract with the University. Please note – the survey is in two parts, Part A and Part B. It is possible to respond to one and not the other. We suggest you skip Part A.
- Use the expression of interest section in Part B to indicate whether you want to take up some of the other voluntary measures being considered (flexible working, purchasing additional annual leave, etc) that may benefit you and also provide cost savings to the University. HR will then follow up with you and your line manager. Please be aware, before making a final decision, that any permanent changes to terms & conditions will have an impact on redundancy, pensions and retirement, and you should take this into consideration.
The strength of a union is in its membership: that is you. Please continue to engage with UNISON, and please ask your friends to join a union! Also, please do let us know if you would like to take on a role on the branch executive committee.
We also heard your request for more opportunities to engage informally with the Branch, and we’ll update you on plans for this very soon.