Note: Alison Balchin (TUC) couldn't make it; she offered to come another time.
Overview of the situation for part-time/fixed-term staff (Ben Levitas)
There is legislation around favourable treatment for part-time and fixed term staff (2000, 2002). Goldsmiths have in principle agreed to equal treatment of fixed term employees in terms of status and pay, due to the recognition that it was no longer feasible to have indefinite rolling fixed-term contracts. We now have the right to permanent status after 4 years of continuous employment. If you haven't been offered this, you have to request it and the employer has to show objective reasons why this isn't possible (the main legitimate reason being staff replacement). The other issues are about pay and conditions. The framework agreement, which came into effect this spring, has put all permanent staff on the same pay spine, from points 1-51.
The interpretation of the 2002 regulations means there can be no detriment to fixed-term/part-time employees, and that these sections of college staff must also be placed on the pay spine; pay is calculated according to a fraction of the corresponding full-time annual salary; people can move up the scale by annual increments to the top of their grade. Fixed term and part time academic staff have been role-analysed by the college HERA team and been placed on grades 7-9.
We have 470 visiting and associate tutors working in college. There are many in PACE, Media/Comms, English and Drama. 200 are working 100+ hours; 70 are working 200+ hours. We are keen to move as many people onto fractional contracts (because people will get a stable number of hours and job security). We are currently in negotiations with management to work out an agreement concerning the calculation of hours. In some institutions they multiply classroom time x 2.5 (preparation, administration and marking). This is problematic for us because there are many different class sizes, and so we're calling for 2.5 prep and admin, PLUS marking. The agreement which will be eventually hammered out will be backdated to August 2006. Any pay differential between current pay and a negotiated increase will be also be backdated to that point.
Answers to questions:
1) 16 hours per week minimum for tax credits: the union will look into this.
2) Re: continuous employment: it doesn't matter if you teach in
different departments as long as it's for the same employer.
3) Departmental policy against PhD students teaching in their final
year: tricky situation, because stopping teaching is considered an
interruption of service.
4) A mix of academic and academic-related contracts is still considered continuous employment.
5) Departmental research money running out is not a legitimate argument
for getting rid of someone; you should be entitled to redundancy
procedures and there has to be an objective reason for getting rid of
you. The Aberdeen case serves as legal precedent.
6) Being paid for prep time and intellectual property are separate
issues: speak possibly to Rosemary Harrison about ownership of
part-timers’ intellectual property.
7) Hours being cut down: this is alteration to terms of the contract
rather than redundancy; legally the College is allowed to do this but
may be casework if no objective reasons are given.
Comments:
- It's not just about marking but different forms of marking (being required to give detailed comments etc).
- It can be hard to speak up, because the impression you can get is that you're being done a huge favour by getting work.
For an archive of older meetings, look here.
Any questions? email us at gucu-admin@gold.ac.uk.
