Lancaster University staff received an email yesterday afternoon from the Vice Chancellor laying out the financial outlook for the University. As a Branch Exec we’re deeply saddened to be in this position, and understand that you will all be feeling upset by this news as well.
Campus Trade Unions have been informed about a survey that will be circulated in the next week or so that will ask people to sign up to a range of voluntary options that the University hopes will save it enough money to fend off future ‘compulsory measures’. UNISON does not feel that the University has carried out adequate modelling of the various financial scenarios, and we believe that the cost saving measures being proposed might not prevent the University from taking further measures in the future – we’ve pushed really hard and we haven’t been shown details that the scheme will save the amount of money required.
Please engage with UNISON, and encourage your friends to join a union. You can join UNISON easily at join.unison.org.uk
We are calling an informal members meeting to discuss this further on Tues 16th Jun at 15:00, and further meetings will be scheduled for those that can’t make this one. An invite to the Teams meeting will be circulated to all members, please contact us if you haven’t received it.
If you feel that you currently need support from UNISON because of your financial situation, please take a look at the Welfare section of our website or email us.
Other updates
Health & Safety
The University is developing plans to bring more people back to work on campus. All unions have been shocked by the lack of meaningful consultation about these proposals. We therefore called an Emergency Health & Safety Consultative Committee meeting which took place yesterday. This was largely a constructive meeting and we now have the outline of a process for managers within the University to consult with unions on plans to ‘re-open’ various areas of campus.
Fixed Term Contracts and Casual Working Policy
This policy was approved back in November 2019, and was even mentioned in Parliament as a good example! Since then the implementation of the policy has been delayed by changes in personnel within HR, and more recently by the Covid-19 crisis. UNISON, alongside the other unions, have pushed to have a clearer understanding of how the policy will be rolled out. We met with HR earlier this week to discuss the implementation of the policy, and to express our dismay that the implementation plans are not true to the spirit of the policy. Further discussions are to come, and we will keep you updated.