Clarification of Phase One Voluntary Redundancies

Dear Member,

We are getting a lot of very concerned members in the three areas affected by Phase One redundancies (Business School/ILS/CHSSC) asking us what will happen to them if they do not volunteer by 10th November 2008.

Our advice is quite simple.

1. Requests for information from members in Phase 1 Areas. Members in Phase 1 who might possibly have even the remotest interest in VS should ask for their personal financial data on VS and if over 50, their pensions estimate. This request is confidential and will not result in you being placed on a redundancy list at a future date.
2. Requests for information from members in Phase 2 Areas. Members in Phase 2 (all other Schools and Departments) cannot request detailed estimates at the moment. However anybody in Phase 2 areas who thinks that they may be interested in VS and early retirement (if over 50yrs), should visit the personnel web-site (voluntary severance section). Links will enable members to carry out their own rough calculations.
3. If you want VS/early retirement, let us know because you may be able to change places with someone who is being made redundant in Phase 1.
4. 10th November deadline for volunteers from Phase One. Members in the three areas in Phase one should only put their names forward during the period 5-10th November if they want to be seriously considered for redundancy. If you do not want to be made redundant, you do not have to put your name forward. You can do yourself no possible harm by not volunteering at this stage. Should the worst happen, and your post becomes redundant, you will have other opportunities to volunteer.

John Dobson

President
Salford UCU

UCU Emergency General Meeting of all Staff Affected by Redundancies 17th October 2008

Despite the short notice and the fact that the meeting was on a Friday, the meeting was attended by over 140 people and there was standing room only.

Following a slide show outlining what had happened so far and the Union's position on the redundancies, staff were asked for any comments and questions. Note the slide show is available on the UCUS Website for those who could not attend the EGM.

All contributions from the floor were highly critical of management's proposals. Not one person spoke in favour of the 'headroom' strategy or the proposed redundancy plan. Below are some of the points raised in discussion:

1. Is it possible that staff will take severance and then there will be restaffing at a later date, given that posts are supposed to be made redundant not people the assumption is that people cannot be made redundant and then be replaced by cheaper staff?

   It has been made clear that this will not happen. The proposal is to make savings by making people redundant, not by replacing them with cheaper staff.

2. Has the University looked at other ways of saving money? Would it be possible to make savings through removing the extra layers of management created through the doubling up of Schools and Faculties?


3. It appears to staff that these cuts are intended to fund the prestigious investment in Media City UK which looks to be costing £13M. The cuts to administrative staff will add further to the workload of academic staff. There also seems to be a move towards more hourly paid staff who are cheaper. Would it be sensible to involve students in any campaign, as this will impact on their quality of education?


4. Whilst staff are worried about the proposed voluntary severance and don't want to stop this for those who want to go, they are concerned about the overworking. It is clear that people want to go because they are unhappy here, and the redundancies will only make things worse for those who stay.


5. The deadlines for VS appear to be rather short and there is concern that the timescale for Compulsory Redundancy takes place before the expiry of the 90 days' consultation that we are legally entitled to? What is happening about this?

   The Full Time Officer is coming on Monday to clarify the situtation on this and other issues relating to the redundancies.
   

6. How can there be consultation when we have been given no definite facts or figures regarding the University's financial situation and the savings required? We don't even know how much it costs to teach a student. It is impossible to challenge the cuts without this information. Other cost information people are interested in receiving includes:

- The cost of refurbishing the Old Firestation

- The growth in staff of central areas

-VC/PVC/SLT salaries

- Refurbishment of Acton Square

- Cost of ROV

-Are the redundancies being used to fund the October pay rise?

The Unions have asked for an extra 30 days on the consultation period because some financial information is not likely to be made available until mid-November, yet the timeline has not been changed for consultation on redundancies.

7. School of Languages privatisation has been put on hold for the time being. This needs to bekept in mind, as it could be used to get rid of Languages staff under TUPE to a private organisation. There is concern that privatisation is to be introduced in other areas, ie Estates and ILS.


8. How many managers are being made redundant? Many areas appear top heavy with management. In ILS one management position is not being filled and the management is making a big deal out of this particular saving. However, it is frontline staff who are taking the brunt of the cuts and therefore services across the University will be cut. There appears to be little we can do about this, management claim they are consulting us, but our opinions are being dismissed and not listened to. Decisions have already been made, this makes a mockery of any concept of consultation.


9. There is a need to ensure that the criteria for redundancy are clear.
10. Why is the VC driving this through when there is a new VC starting next year?


11. How voluntary is voluntary? Many people see it as unemployment, there are a lot of female staff affected by this who have not been in post very long and who have returned to work following breaks in service, this is a particular issue for CHSSC. Many people feel as though they sould go before they are pushed, especially in the targeted areas. There appears to be no difference between CR and VR if a post is targeted and there is only one person in that post. This is a big issue in ILS, where generic job descriptions are being used to make cuts, yet these descriptions do not really reflect what people are actually doing.


12. There should be a consultative ballot on potential action over any possible Compulsory Redundancies, a line needs to be drawn. The ballot needs to include all unions.


13. VS should be opened up to the whole University before staff are made compulsorily redundant to allow more bumping and redeployment.

Although some members wanted strong action immediately, the UCUS Committee recommended that:-

• we should strongly oppose the redundancy proposals using the consultative procedure.


• any attempt at compulsory redundancy should be fought using any means including industrial action.

When the Committee's recommendation was put the vote, it was accepted unanimously.

Questions from Staff

Here are some questions received from staff members so far that we are able to answer. If you have any questions, please email us at ucu-comms-isd@salford.ac.uk or email one of us. Our contact details are available on the main UCU Salford website.

Does the branch intend to second officers from Regional/National/another institution in order to assist us to organise against the impending redundancies? We could do with Union representation at all meetings with management to avoid –‘divide and rule’ techniques.

Members can rest assured that we are in regular contact with the full time officers in the Regional Office who are advising us at each stage, and I may say have given us some excellent advice. We did discuss the situation at Salford with the full-time officers at the Regional UCU meeting on Saturday 10th October. They wanted to attend our meetings both with management and the general meeting, but unfortunately were elsewhere.

Is there a possibility for staff to reduce their hours as an alternative to redundancy?

Job share is certainly something that UCUS could propose if this is what the members want.

There have been redundancies advertised across targeted areas that could be filled by current staff. Why were these not held back until redundancy decisions have been made to enable them to be advertised as redeployed opportunities?

Your officers have made strong representations to management about the continued advertisement and filling of posts without any attempt to see if this could be filled by an existing member of staff. Management have now introduced a 'job freeze' and a procedure for approving all future recruitment. We only wish that management had introduced this earlier.

If I ask for details of Voluntary Severance, will this mean that I will automatically be considered for VR?

Quite a number of staff have expressed concern that if they ask for details of their entitlement under the current voluntary severance arrangements and also their pension estimate (if they are over 50 years old), that they would in some sense be 'marked' for pressure to volunteer or even selected for compulsory redundancy. We have raised this concern with the management and they have assured us that all applications for information will remain confidential within the HR Department and will not be disclosed to the School or Department. A statement to this effect will be included on the information application form.

Can I be accompanied by a Union representative at any meetings with management?

Any members that want a Salford Union Officer to accompany them to any meeting with management has only to ask. If the Officers are not free, another member of the Salford Executive will accompany them. We are anticipating a lot of involvement with individual member's cases over the next 9 months.

One issue which we are expecting to do a lot of work is with individual members is in cases of what the management call 'bumping'. This is when a member who wants to accept voluntary severance but is not redundant is 'cross-matched' with another member of is facing the prospect of redundancy but doesn't want to go.

Some further points we would like to make are:

• We strongly urge members to ask management as many questions as possible during their briefing meetings. If members are reluctant to ask questions, they should get their School or Department UCU representative to ask them.

• We have agreed to work with the other Campus unions to prepare a joint union response to management, and will need to work with members in each School or Department to produce a robust reply.

Salford UCU - Emergency General Meeting - 17th October, 1PM, Chapman 3

Dear Member,

Given the circumstances of the proposed redundancies, and the timescale involved, your Officers have called an EGM for this Friday – 17^th October – starting at 1PM prompt with a planned end-time of 2PM. Note, however, the Officers will be on hand after 2PM for informal discussion. Note also that this announcement supersedes any other suggested dates/times and the venue is Chapman 3. The timing of the meeting means that the initial consultation with the trade unions on Tuesday 14^th will have taken place. Also, staff in the three affected areas will have been separately addressed by management on Wednesday 15^th (& Thursday 16^th for some in ILS).

Given the fairly short duration of 1 hour only, it is hoped that members will make every effort to attend and show their concerns at this very difficult time for us all.

To reiterate:

DATE: FRIDAY 17^TH OCTOBER

TIME: 1PM PROMPT

VENUE: CHAPMAN 3

PLEASE DO YOUR BEST TO ATTEND.

Kindest regards,

Jim Atherton, Secretary & Treasurer

University of Salford Redundancies

As you all know, the management at Salford plan to axe 150 jobs during the next 10 months (6% of the workforce) to save seven and a half million pounds. This will involve most Departments and Schools. Fortunately they have said that they will try to do it by voluntary means, but have not ruled out compulsory – indeed they have already established a Redundancy Committee.

The Committee have real reservations about the management plans.

• They talk a lot about strategy and planning, but this looks like crisis management. Indeed only two years ago, they implemented a substantial expansion of ILS (formerly ISD).
• They are still recruiting, with no obvious attempts at redeployment.
• We are very concerned about the continued waste and investment in non-essential projects.

What do you think? Email us at ucu-comms-isd@salford.ac.uk

John Dobson, President, Salford UCU