South West
Industrial Relations Exchange Online – Wednesday March 25 – Edition 01
Distribution: Officers of the South West and Extended Region, HE and FE
Dear Colleagues
Firstly, we hope you are keeping safe and well in these extraordinary times. This is the first edition of SWIREOL ( South West Industrial Relations Exchange Online ). The purpose is to keep you updated on a regular basis with best COVID 19 practice across the region plus from time to time shaming some of our institutions.
These newsletters are for local SW regional UCU news. For detailed general guidance please keep checking the national UCU website on a daily basis. As this is to be the start of an exchange please feed in any notable practice from your institutions to exeter@ucu.org.uk.
The updates will be very brief to allow for versions across all formats. For more detailed information regarding any item contact either Nick Catriona or Philippa directly or if related to dealing with case work Morin. Dave has the responsibility for editing the news and Becca will ensure it gets out to all of you.
Working from home with young children or other caring responsibilities
“If you have young children at home because the schools are closed or have other caring responsibilities and are working at home, we know that you may be unable to commit to a full day of work. We understand that and thank you for your best efforts. Do what you can, ask for help and take care of your family. Please talk to your line manager to agree a shared approach to your working practices over the coming weeks.”
Petroc one of the better statements re continued payment of HPLs
Petroc College in Devon told TES that it is paying casual staff for the hours they would have worked if the college was operating normally. It is also paying them full sick pay if they are in self-isolation.
The college’s director of human resources and organisational development, Sheena Murphy-Collett, said: “At Petroc, we value all of our workforce and the contribution they make to the success of the college. We are supporting the workforce during this unprecedented situation we find ourselves in and our part-time hourly paid staff, often referred to as casual staff, are being treated fairly and appropriately. If they are in self-isolation, we are paying them sick pay. If they are fit for work, we are paying them for the hours they would have worked if the college was operating normally.
“We have extended the sick pay entitlement for colleagues who ordinarily would only receive SSP [Statutory Sick Pay] within their first six months of employment.”
Precarious and casual
A number of institutions have agreed to pay their hourly paid, associate lecturers and casual staff for any scheduled teaching. Your institution may give them another name but these are staff who have no open ended contract and may have a schedule of work for the year, a guarantee of a number of hours or something similar to this. Some examples; Swindon College, Wiltshire College, Bridgwater and Taunton College, South Devon College, University of the West of England and Plymouth University are all paying these staff groups. There are others. Weymouth College has also given a commitment that variable hours HPLs will continue to be paid, based on their previous and currently planned hours.
Redundancy consultations have been suspended at South Devon College and Cornwall College.
Cornwall College have been able to close all of their sites by working with the Local Authority, families and other providers.
In terms of sick pay and recording sickness absence, Weston College have confirmed Covid-19 absence will not be included in sickness absence monitoring and South Devon College have suspended the use of the Bradford Factor. Petroc has also confirmed that coronavirus-related sickness absence will not be ‘counted’ towards triggering any formal sickness absence procedure.
Prison Ed
It wasn’t until yesterday that our Prison Education colleagues were finally told they would not be required to attend the workplace. Marianne Quick the Negotiating and Bargaining Officer covering Prison Education has been working tirelessly collating information, lobbying MP’s and negotiating with employers. The union had called for face-to-face provision to be stopped after members raised concerns about health and safety. A survey of prison education staff highlighted widespread concerns about a lack of basic handwashing facilities, classrooms not being cleaned between lessons and equipment being shared between prisoners and staff. Work will now continue to ensure these staff are still paid and the Government continues to pay colleges for the contracts.
Advice from Morin re Individual Casework
To Video Conference or Not?
With the Government’s emergency shutdown in response to Covid-19 and its advice about social distancing many of you will be thinking whether conducting a grievance, capability or disciplinary process via Skype, Zoom is advisable. To assist with this I have produced some information for you when advising members in this regard.
The first thing I would say is that it is ultimately up to the individual concerned. However, where the process is likely to lead to a severe sanction such as a Warning or Dismissal then our advice would be to have a face to face hearing when it is safe to do so which obviously means there would be a significant delay given the current pandemic crisis. The reasons for this are essentially three-fold:
1. You won’t get a second chance at it.
2. Conducting a disciplinary hearing, for example, via video conferencing would put both the individual member concerned and you as the representative at a disadvantage as you would not be able to properly gauge non-verbal communication.
3. Your union rep will be restricted with the amount of support that they can provide you as they will not be in the same room as you.
The individual member has the right to opt for a face to face hearing particularly when the sanction of the process is punitive. To not allow this would be unreasonable on the part of the employer. I do not envisage this being an issue but if you come across an employer who insists on going ahead via video conferencing against the individual’s wishes then I would suggest that you contact the regional office immediately at exeter@ucu.org.uk
NB: If an individual member does opt to go for a video conference then we shall support and represent them as best we can.
STOP PRESS
We are getting news from others in England that some managers are being instructed to access online teaching and calling them ‘virtual walks ‘. Contact your official if any of your institutions try this.
