Swansea UCU Political Engagement Events

We ran a series of political engagement events in advance of the Senedd elections that took place in May 2021. These remote sessions give members an opportunity to quiz politicians from different parties representing constituencies or regions around Swansea University on whatever topics they wish.

Our first session saw questions put to Suzy Davies, Conservative Senedd member representing the South West Wales region. The session was chaired by Prof. Michael Draper, Director of the Swansea Academy for Inclusivity and Learner Success and Professor of Legal Education at Swansea University. There were questions  on topics ranging from Brexit and Erasmus+ to electoral reform to governance of public sector organisations.

We are most grateful to Suzy for giving up her time to talk to us, Michael for chairing and UCU members for attending and providing thought provoking questions.  The next session will be with a panel of Labour Party MS on the 5th February at 12:30pm. This session with Suzy is available in full here:

In the second of our political engagement events we were pleased to host a panel of Labour Party MS from Swansea and the surrounding area via zoom for a question and answer session with UCU members. On the panel were Rebecca Evans, MS for Gower and minister for Finance and Trefnydd, Jeremy Miles, MS for Neath, counsel general and European transition minister, David Rees, MS for Aberavon and Mike Hedges, MS for Swansea East. The session was chaired by Professor Sue Jordan, UCU Swansea branch president

Questions were put to the panel on a variety of topics from big national issues like Brexit and electoral reform to more local issues directly affecting Swansea UCU members, such as the current issues affecting university finances and the use short term contracts in higher education institutions. We would like to thank the panel for giving up their time to talk to us when there is so much pressure on diaries and UCU members for attending and providing thought provoking questions.

If you weren’t able to attend the session with Labour MS, check it out here:

In the last in our series of political engagement events before the 2021 Senedd Elections we hosted two members of the Senedd representing Plaid Cymru; Helen-Mary Jones, MS for the Mid and West Wales region and Dai Lloyd, MS for the South West Wales region. The session was chaired by Professor David Blackaby, Professor of Economics and former head of the Department of Economics.

There was a lively discussion around Welsh independence and answers to questions from UCU members on Brexit, university finance; jobs and pensions, health and social care and Covid-19 amongst other topics.

We would like to extend our thanks to Helen and Dai for giving up their time during what must be a very busy period for them, and to UCU members for attending and asking questions. If you would like to ask any further questions or make comments please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the UCU committee. The full session with Plaid MS is available here:

Urgent message on pensions to all members of the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) 

The 2020 USS pension valuation is currently in process, and universally considered to be seriously defective. UniversitiesUK (the organisation representing VCs) has been scathing in their response to the proposed valuation. Cambridge University VC and other leaders have written openly to raise serious concerns and call for re-engagement. If the USS proposal were to be implemented, it would increase total contribution rates from 30.7% of payroll (i.e. employer + employer contributions) currently to between 40.8% and 67.9% of payroll. Yet despite the enormous potential impact, USS has not provided credible evidence or rationale for these changes.   

We would therefore encourage all USS members, whether they are UCU members or not, to sign a letter of complaint to USS regarding the valuation of our pension scheme. We would like as many USS members as possible to sign the letter before it is submitted on 22 January by Neil Davies, Bristol UCU pension rep., under USS’s own complaints procedure as set out in the scheme rules.   

It’s a difficult time for everyone at UK Universities and this may not seem a priority at the moment, but the valuation as it stands will cause very serious and unnecessary financial difficulties both for the sector and its staff. The full letter of complaint with appendix can be seen here. 

USS has a responsibility to seriously address the issues raised in the complaint. Please Sign.   

There is now a very good video on the pension valuation to help understand these issues

DECLARATION OF OUTSIDE INTERESTS

The University’s ‘Declaration of Outside Interests’ form, which requires staff to declare any potential conflicts of interest with their University employment, contains a section where staff are asked to list 

‘Details of other interests which are felt to be relevant, e.g. memberships of associations, societies, cooperative movements’.

Members have asked us whether this means they should declare their membership of UCU. For avoidance of doubt, the University has made clear that members are neither required nor expected to declare their union membership or membership of a political party or association. UCU membership details are confidential to the union and not disclosed to the employer or any other third party.

Recording of lectures

Members have expressed concerns regarding the recording of lectures by the University.

This is a complex area in law and there is very little case law. Therefore, we cannot give a definitive answer. There are several questions to consider:

  1. Who owns the intellectual property (IP) rights to the lecture?
  2. Does recording of lectures breach the IP rights of those whose material is used to create the lecture?
  3. How are confidentiality issues covered e.g. when patient or personal case information is shared by teacher or students?
  4. If recordings are re-used, are there any risks that they will be outdated? Will the academic retain control over re-use?

Ownership of IP

Swansea University’s policy states:

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY’S POLICY ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The Creator shall own the copyright in teaching materials, academic and other publications (books, articles etc), theses and dissertations, lesson plans and learning modules except where they are comprised of original computer software, details of an invention or other commercially exploitable information or know-how not in the public domain, or when the materials have been specifically commissioned by the University or in circumstances where Clause 6 is applicable and the University is contractually required to own the copyright. Available here (top result)

Performers’ rights over recorded lectures are likely vested in staff

However, copyright of material produced in the course of employment can be claimed by employers.

Risks of transferring material from traditional teaching to online sources

Creation of original ‘material’ creates IP rights but the extent of these rights is a hugely complicated area, often due to differing national and international laws and also the matter of whether any agreements/permissions (for use of materials by others) are in place. This has been commonly acknowledged e.g. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is a generic term that relates to … claims for ‘ownership’ of a resource – whether registered or unregistered. Issues around ownership, trust, provenance, attribution and risk are all aspects of IPR that can present significant barriers to open sharing or release of learning materials. (See link)

Librarians should be able to advise on commonly available agreements in place relating to sharing academic materials, and guidance is available

Recording may give rise to copyright, quality and confidentiality issues: lecture content may contain information on patients or personal cases; students may ask questions about individual cases which they would not wish to share outside their peer group; slides may contain images which are copied for single use in teaching e.g. data from someone else’s research paper (this is fine to show in a lecture, but not to transfer onto another platform); content will date. The author should at least check that material is not outdated before anything is re-released. If the author is not available, then re-using the lecture will lead to quality issues.

Swansea University lecture recording policy is available:

It states:

Swansea University expects staff and students to comply with all applicable UK & European copyright legislation. Staff should ensure they have the appropriate copyright clearance for any material covered within the recording. Further advice is available via openaccess@swansea.ac.uk and guidance and training materials can be found on the SALT website.

This places the onus on individual academics to check everything said or used on slides in a recorded lecture and online materials. Many academics are not experts in the extremely complicated area of IP. UCU would like the University to take full responsibility for any breaches of IP law which may result from the use of lecture recordings, as it would be totally unreasonable of management to expect staff to become IP experts in this extremely complicated area.

Return to Swansea University campus teaching: Advice for members from UCU Committee

Preamble

Over the course of the spring and summer, SU UCU reps have been following a twin strategy:

  1. To enable the university to recruit and retain students to protect jobs and employment;
  2. To ensure that any return to on campus teaching must place the health and safety of members as the highest priority.

The ability to offer students an ‘on campus experience’ was deemed necessary for student recruitment and we accepted the need for that. But we are clear that such an experience should not come at the expense of the health, safety, and wellbeing of our members.

In recent weeks, UCU UK national office has advocated that all teaching should be online except where it is essential for there to be face-to-face teaching.

UCU committee notes that rates of Covid-19 are increasing and that this reinforces our view that health and safety must always take priority.

UCU committee has worked with the university over the summer to do what we can to ensure that all teaching spaces are safe but we accept that there can be no 100% guarantees about this.

Members have a range of views on what is deemed to be essential for on campus teaching and an array of attitudes to what is acceptable in terms of personal risk.

Advice to members – before returning to campus

Before commencing any teaching, members should have received the risk assessment for their work area. If you do not have it, ask your line manager or Head of College. Do not teach until you have seen it and understand its requirements.

Before return to campus all members should have completed the online course and return to work checklist. If you are in a high-risk category you should work from home if possible. In addition to discussing your situation with Occupational Health we would advise obtaining the opinion of your own GP.

If you are not in a high-risk category but still feel unable to return to campus due to anxiety or other reason, you should obtain an opinion from your own GP that you should work from home. If you are refused permission to work from home, please ask for advice from UCU.

Advice to members – on campus

Only teaching that is ‘essential’ should be done on campus. However, what is or is not essential is open to interpretation. In the first instance have a conversation with your line manager/Head of College about this if you are worried about returning to campus. If you cannot find an agreement, please contact UCU.

All teaching rooms should always be safe in in accordance with the risk assessment (e.g. 2 metre social distancing, thorough cleaning, adequate ventilation, and provision of wipes for additional cleaning of equipment etc). If you find that your teaching room is unsafe for any reason, do not teach but immediately inform your College so it can be made safe. Please also let UCU know so that we can monitor the situation.

It is not the responsibility of teaching staff to ensure that students follow health and safety protocols, but we would encourage members to request that students do follow those protocols.

If you see or witness any unsafe practice, please report it immediately to the College or University and inform UCU.

Swansea University UCU contact details: ucucommittee@swansea.ac.uk

Unequal impact of Covid-19: current evidence for pregnancy

UCU calls on employers to consider the unequal impact of Covid-19 and those who are at increased risk of contracting covid-19 and suffering poorer outcomes (i.e. underlying health conditions, older age, pregnancy, BAME groups, and men) [1]. Members who are or might be pregnant are advised to review the guidelines of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists [2] and a recent systematic review [3]. Current evidence [2,3] suggests an increase in preterm birth rates to ~20%. (Prevalence of preterm birth is ~ 5-6% in Wales). The additional risks of even late preterm birth (34-36 weeks) are important [4].

1.       https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10960/HE-workplace-return-negotiating-guidance/pdf/ucu_covid-19_he-return-branch-advice2.pdf?utm_source=Lyris&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reps&utm_term=broff-he&utm_content=UCU+branch+update:+e-ballot+on+UCEA+offer+and+health+and+safety+briefing

2.       https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/coronavirus-pregnancy/covid-19-virus-infection-and-pregnancy/

3.      Khalil A et al SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy. EClinical Medicine 2020 July   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100446

4.      Platt MJ. Outcomes in preterm infants. Public Health. 2014 May;128[5]:399-403. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2014.03.010. Epub 2014 May 1. Review. PubMed PMID: 24794180.

Trade Union nominees on the governing body of Swansea University

The University Council is the University’s governing body whose duty it is to approve the strategic direction of the University and other important decisions regarding its business and management. The University is reducing the number of Council members and, as part of this, proposes to remove the two nominated union trustees for the first time in our history. All campus unions are dismayed by this, flying in the face of widespread practice as it does and apparently seeking to silence the authentic voice of staff.

The allocation of two union nominated trustees on Council is recognition of the importance of participative and transparent governance which we would obviously want to see continue. Trade union nominated trustees have the skills set and experience needed to contribute crucial knowledge and local ‘intelligence’ regarding industrial and public relations across campus. The members from the unions provide a direct link to all staff, especially on matters of urgency and high sensitivity. Taking away designated trade union seats from Council is causing mistrust, damaging relations between the University and trade union members, and jeopardising our long-standing good industrial relations.

We have urged the University to consider how the loss of union nominees on Council would also affect both the wellbeing of its staff and the reputation of the institution. We do not understand why the University seems bent on destroying trust and workings relationships built up over decades and are therefore hoping for a realisation that such a step is unnecessary, all the more so in the current environment in which close cooperation between all parties is essential.

This post follows on from “We wanted to negotiate, but we are losing our seat at the table”

For more detail, please see our position paper (here) compiled on behalf of UCU, Unite and Unison committees

Living Wage campaigning success at Swansea University

After nearly a decade of lobbying and negotiation, the campus Trade Unions are delighted that Swansea University has now agreed to be a real Living Wage employer starting April 2020. This will immediately benefit 1014 staff who were previously paid below that level. The Trade Unions have been at the heart of this campaign since the day it launched.

In 2016 Swansea UCU brought this matter to the attention of the Wales Education Minister asking him to urge HEFCW to mandate the Wales HE sector to address and implement the Living Wage for their employees. In a letter dated 20 March 2019 to the Chair of HEFCW, the Minister clearly stated that the Welsh Government expected HEFCW to prioritise fairness and equality for to staff working in the HE sector by the 19/20 financial year as a condition of continued funding from the Welsh Government.

As a sabbatical officer in Swansea Students’ Union, along with UCU, Unite and Unison we organised Living Wage campaigning, inviting several national speakers to come and speak.    I recollect in particular the speech delivered in 2012 by David Miliband, former Foreign Secretary.  Addressing staff and students, he said: “This policy was condemned as a ‘job killer’ when it was first introduced, but it will turn out to be one of Britain’s biggest ever policy successes for living standards.”  The deeper motivation is that a decent and fair minimum wage for all pays dividends in a happier workforce who feel properly rewarded for their labour. In turn it means less necessity for state benefit support, thereby enabling taxpayers’ money to be diverted elsewhere, e.g. social care, care for the elderly, primary/secondary education, policing, transport, NHS, etc.

While touring Wales during the 2019 election, the previous Chancellor stated: “The national living wage is set for another big rise next year after Brexit.”  The present Chancellor is right to be signalling now where it should go after 2020. However, I personally believe he should also ensure that the next phase of increase in the Living Wage should be based on careful examination of the evidence in the post Covid-19 situation.

We congratulate Swansea University management for taking this difficult decision at a time when the whole sector is struggling financially. We would also like to add our personal thanks to the Welsh Education Minister, local MPs & AMs, HEFCW and present and previous members of UCU, Unite and Unison for continuous lobbying on this issue.

Mahaboob Basha

Covid-19: Staff welfare and the pandemic

Staff welfare, a lower priority than student welfare?

Covid-19 has seriously disrupted the way Higher Education Institutions operate.  The most obvious impact has been on the way staff and students interact, and the shift to online teaching, assessment, and individual and group engagements.  Understandably the University has sought to minimise any adverse impact on students from these changes. Inevitably given the nature of our sector, it is staff who are the key to supporting students and helping to ensure their welfare during the pandemic.  This has placed enormous strain on colleagues at a time when all of us are facing daily challenges in our personal and family lives.  All the more disappointing then that the University has thus far shown little empathy for the plight of its workforce.  While fine words are plentiful, there is a failure to recognise that staff are not an inexhaustible resource to be pushed to the maximum without regard for the consequences. 

When it comes to our dealings with students, we are told – through almost daily updates to already overflowing email inboxes – to inform students, contact students, invite students to get in touch, etc.  And all this while adapting to a host of new working practices, and frankly, trying not to lose it altogether!

Given the pandemic, UCU accepts that not all issues were capable of being addressed immediately and evenly.  But it is now eight weeks since lockdown and there still appears to be an assumption that the welfare of students is the only priority, and that staff will perform their duties in a kind of robotic way – somehow insulated from the effects of the crisis.  There seems to be little regard for the pressures of childcare or other caring duties or the sheer mental strain of coping with lockdown while working.  While we appreciate the VC’s frankness about uncertainty over the future of sector and our institution, this also serves to exacerbate the stress for many staff. 

Provision of adequate equipment

So far, the University has not revealed any plan for issuing staff members with appropriate electronic equipment.  While there is a lot of talk about students not having access to adequate internet connection speeds and computers, staff are expected to use their own computers, printers, etc.  We are concerned about all staff, but in particular, colleagues who following a workplace assessment have not been provided with appropriate equipment to meet their physical needs (ergonomic keyboards, suitable chairs etc.).  Not enough consideration has been given to the health and safety consequences of moving to home-working.  Given that electronic marking has increased hugely during the lockdown the UCU would want serious consideration to be given to how to manage this change from a health and safety perspective. 

Inflexibility about turn-around of assessed work

The University has now moved the vast majority of assessments online.  It appears that despite the increased burden this places on staff, and the lack of a proper H&S assessment of this change, it is still expected that  marking will be completed within 3 weeks.  In some Colleges we are informed that attempts are being made to shorten even this unrealistic timescale.  This is unacceptable and staff welfare must come first here, taking precedence over students’ interest in receiving their mark within the normal timeframe.

Our advice to all staff who have marking responsibilities is that you should be conscious of your health and wellbeing while marking.  Take breaks, do not over-exert yourself.  You need to determine how many assessments you can comfortably mark in a set period.  You should not strive to meet deadlines at the expense of your health or wellbeing.

If you feel you may be penalised for not meeting a marking deadline contact us immediately.  We will have no hesitation in raising the matter with the University on your behalf. 

All the above are issues that UCU has raised with senior management, and we will continue to do so until we are satisfied with the response.  More broadly we will press senior management to pay closer attention to the welfare of staff as we emerge from lockdown.

We would also like to draw your attention to our current survey of staff workload, collected just prior to the pandemic: Administrative Burden on Academics

Annual leave: request for more flexiblity

Swansea UCU members have received a message (20/4/20) from Swansea University Registrar, Andrew Rhodes, which states: ‘It has been agreed with Trade Union colleagues that key principles will apply when booking annual leave.’

Although the Registrar’s message states that these principles were ‘agreed with Trade Union colleagues’, the Swansea UCU committee wishes to clarify that no agreement was reached on one of these principles, the one stating: “Where it is not reasonably practicable for an individual to take their leave, line managers can agree carry-over of up to 5 days in line with current process.’

As an alternative, the Committee proposed that the University take an approach in line with that set out by the government in the recent Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations. The Regulations, which apply to all organisations and all workers and not only those considered ‘essential’, provide that where it is not reasonably practicable for a worker to take the statutory holiday to which they are entitled, they have a right to ‘carry up to 4 weeks of statutory leave into the next 2 leave years’.

This was proposed as it was felt that limiting carry-over to 5 days would (i) seem unnecessary in the light of the flexibility which the Regulations are attempting to introduce (ii) allow workers to enjoy more effective periods of leave and (iii) provide acknowledgement that, due to the diverse nature of University work, a ‘one-size fits all’ approach was unlikely to be the most effective.  It would also, of course, demonstrate the University’s support for the ‘spirit’ of the government Regulation.

At a time when so many staff are working from home for the first time and experiencing a new way of working, in addition to the stresses resulting from health worries, closed schools and uncertainty over the future to name but a few, Swansea UCU felt sure that staff would approve of the suggested approach to time off.