The EUCU is holding a General Meeting on Monday 27 November from 14:00 to 15:30. The joining details are:
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/98349315165?pwd=cEFaQWw1OWpGRkRKcDFWeVVGai93QT09

Meeting ID: 983 4931 5165 , Password: 209898 

The agenda is as follows: 

1. Welcome  

2. Absent/present  

3. Committee Officer Reports 

4. Branch Priorities – As noted in a previous email, the Branch Committee would like to use this General Meeting to get feedback on EUCU priorities and principles for 23/24.  At the bottom of this email, you will find some text derived within Committee for consideration.  These priorities are non-exhaustive. They are intended as a starting point for our discussions. Please do think about what you want the Branch to take forward.  The discussion about priorities will include a presentation on uni/HE finances.  

5. Motion Debate – Attached is a motion for debate titled ‘Branch motion on solidarity with Palestine and academic freedom’.  If you would like to offer any amendments, they need to be sent to secretary.eucu@exeter.ac.uk before 17:30 on 24 November.  Amendments should include a named proposer and seconder.  If you have any queries about amendments or proposers, please contact the Branch through secretary.eucu@exeter.ac.uk.  

EUCU Palestine motion_22 10 23Download

6. AoB 

As a heads-up, the Branch will be holding an end of term Social from 17:30 onwards at The Imperial pub in Exeter on 12 December. We look forward to seeing you for a bit of festive cheer.   

Branch Priorities for Discussion  

Pay: The national context of nearly fifteen years of below inflation pay uplifts is exacerbated at Exeter because of the confined prospects for progression along the pay scale, how our staff pay compares to other similar universities, as well as pay disparities, notably in relation to gender.  The Branch has worked with other campus trade unions to derive proposals for how to restructure pay at Exeter.  We will continue to press for changes to pay and pay scales.  With the end of national industrial action as well as the forthcoming end to the USS pension ‘deficiency payments’, there is an opportunity for our senior management to move to redress local pay issues that have developed over many years.  

Casualisation: Under the Fair Employment for All initiative, the branch will push for the phasing out of contracts which are ‘open-ended subject to external funding’ in favour of permanent contracts.  As well, we will seek better support (e.g., centrally funded and transparently allocated bridging funding) for staff on fixed-term or ‘open-ended subject to external funding’ contracts where continuity of contract/funding is not complete.  As part of ending insecure employment practices, the university needs to improve the terms of the contracts it issues and the training associated with how they are applied. 

Pensions: While the national situation with regard to pensions seems to be headed in the right direction, we want our university works to ensure the kinds of unnecessary and harsh changes that took place in the last several years are not repeated in the future.  Among other things, we will push for the university to commit publicly to the pre-April 2022 (post-January 2024) USS benefits as a floor into the future, i.e., they should not support cutting benefits in response to any ‘technical provisions deficit’ identified in future valuations.  Note: If you would like to discuss any pensions-related issues with the Branch, our Pensions Officer (Tristan Snowsill), is offering one-to-one meeting slots that can be booked here.  

Promotions: The branch was recently consulted about draft changes proposed to the promotion criteria for the Exeter Academic Review.  Beyond the criteria in themselves, we as a branch will work to ensure that panel feedback is useful and constructive (in other words, provides a pathway for progression; esp in the case of L/SL decisions), that decisions are informed by academic EDI inputs and that information on the number of successful and unsuccessful applicants should be gathered and made known to HoDs, SALs and applicants.  

Disability: When it comes to addressing the working conditions of staff with disabilities, the Branch maintains that three principles ought to guide university policies and procedures: 

  1. The person living with the diagnosis is the pre-eminent expert in their health and experience of their illness; 
  2. There ought to be lines of support that are utterly distinct from line management and performance management; ideally building on the wealth of research and activist expertise in the university.   
  3. Disability is not a quality of the person.  It is something that is done to people with impairments through structures and systems.  Barring extreme instances, there are no impairments that can’t be mitigated through reasonable adjustments (which might need to dynamically respond to fluctuating health needs) allowing the person to work successfully.