BUCU Anti Casualisation Working Group
mailto:bhamanticasualisation@gmail.com
University Policy on Fixed Term Contracts 2009 (extracts)
The University affirms its policy with regard to fixed term contracts is therefore:
a) to recognise, in accordance with the Fixed Term Work Regulations, that the usual arrangement between an employer and an employee should be on the basis of a permanent contract of employment
In 2003, 67% of the University’s staff were on permanent contracts and 33% on fixed term contracts. In 2009, 78% of staff are on permanent contracts and 22% on fixed term contracts.
In 2016 it was reported in the Guardian that UoB is the Russell Group Institute with the highest percentage of staff – 70% – on insecure contracts. Something is going very wrong.
UCU believes that high quality education and fair working conditions depend on contracts that give staff stability and continuity of employment. Casualisation is bad for staff and bad for education, yet it’s endemic in our colleges and universities.
Only pressure from BUCU can reverse this trend at UoB. Of late there have been some successes through representation at an individual level and BUCU is pushing Fixed Term Contracts on to the agenda with senior management.
Insecurity for one is insecurity for all. Join the BUCU Anti Casualisation Working Group and campaign for secure employment for all. Contact : bhamanticasualisation@gmail.com
Arguments for using the furlough scheme to keep fixed-term staff in jobs in universities
Our argument for how the University should deal with staff on fixed-term contracts during the lockdown period
Analysis of University of Birmingham annual accounts 2018/19
As analysed in our previous release reviewing the USS pension adjustment, the University of Birmingham’s annual accounts for 2018/19 (pdf) present a rather misleading and questionable £115.4m bottom line deficit. This report summarises the underlying performance and highlights the key take aways from this year’s financials; in particular, what we now know about income, debt,…
Sign the pledge to boycott Edgbaston Park Hotel
At our GMM members meeting on 9th October 2019 we passed unanimously a motion to boycott the University’s new Edgbaston Hotel and Conference Park subsidiary company (including Lucas House, Garth House, Peter Scott, and Horton Grange) due to the University having outsourced all staff at reduced pay and with inferior terms and conditions.
UCU Pension and Pay strike ballots open 9 Sept
Last month, UCU wrote to 69 institutions warning that if they failed to defend USS pensions then the union would prepare for an industrial action ballot in September. The union’s higher education committee (HEC) has now set out a timetable for that ballot and also for a pay ballot to run at the same time.
Lunchtime event: Making UoB a Real Living Wage employer with Liam Byrne MP
Please join us this Thursday lunchtime (30 May 2019) for a special event co-organised with our friends at UNISON University of Birmingham and special guest Liam Byrne MP, where we’ll be exploring how we can make the University become a real Living Wage employer and start to tackle the scandal of in-work poverty.
Birmingham UCU response to Tim Jones’ UoB Briefing
On Monday (20 May), the Birmingham UCU Committee emailed its members in response to a misleading all-staff email Tim Jones, Provost and Vice-Principal, sent about the current UNISON UoB strike ballot. Unlike University management, Birmingham UCU cannot communicate directly with all staff. Please help us get our side across by sharing this message with your…
It’s High Noon for David Eastwood: UNISON University of Birmingham Strike Ballot launches with a bang
Yesterday (17 May), our friends at UNISON University of Birmingham branch released an incredible video, It’s High Noon for David Eastwood, to explain why they’re balloting their members to improve pay and working conditions for Support Staff.
Vice Chancellor’s question time “utter farce” say students
Last week Vice Chancellor Sir David Eastwood’s appearance at the Guild’s Question Time event left students bemused and disappointed by a string of evasive and vacuous responses, with one student concluding to the Tab: “most of us were hopeful that this would be a real chance to raise serious questions with management, and to have…
Wages flat-line at University of Birmingham as UCU re-ballots over pay
This week BUCU members will receive their ballot papers as UCU nationally roll out a ballot of 70,000 members over employers’ failure to improve on the below-inflation 2% pay offer made at pay talks last May. Our analysis, based on the University of Birmingham’s latest published accounts (2017-18), shows the stark disparity between average and…
Birmingham UCU 