Branch Meeting held on Wednesday 1st July 2020
Motion carried with a majority: Passed: for 67 members, against 6, abstentions 14.
A decision on pay deductions from UCU members taking strike action in February and March 2020 was finally communicated by SHU HROD on 9th June 2020. Full deductions for all strike action are now scheduled to take place over four equal monthly instalments from August to November 2020.
UCU negotiators have been consistently arguing that these deductions should NOT be made due to reaching local agreement on academic work-planning, extensive catch-up work provided by members to ensure completion of the semester, and substantial sacrifices made by members to provide flexible homeworking for SHU, all of which has enabled the delivery of remote learning for students. Members have provided exceptional support for students despite their difficulties faced during the pandemic, such as childcare demands and imperfect computing facilities. It is disappointing and unacceptable that a punitive approach has been taken on pay deductions.
Although SHU has a legal right to take pay deductions, it is clearly an unfair settlement, and not in the spirit of partnership or conducive to building the goodwill required to deal with the current situation. Therefore, UCU SHU branch will instruct its members to withdraw all unpaid and voluntary work from August 2020, until a fair resolution has been agreed. A settlement could be reached on the basis of substantially reducing the pay deductions and allocating any remaining funds to the student Hallam Hardship Fund.
SHU UCU Branch advises members to work to contract from July 6th 2020, which would include:
- Keeping strictly to contractual hours.
- Taking all RSA and annual leave.
- Leaving any outstanding marking or teaching preparation until September.
- Not marking uncapped referral work.
- Not participating in clearing.
- Not participating in voluntary open day activity.