We’re pleased to be able to tell you all that we have submitted our Local Pay and Equality Claim to the University. You will recall that at the Annual General Meeting in June, you gave us a mandate to submit a claim to ask the University to tackle three problems in particular: the gender pay gap, casualisation, and grade drift. The claim we submitted ton 24th September 2018 demands:
1) A commitment and strategy to close the gender pay gap at the University of Reading by 2020.
2) The addressing and monitoring of the use of precarious contracts of employment through the establishment of a joint-forum.
3) A collective agreement to transfer precariously employed staff onto permanent contracts of employment.
4) Commitment to specific financial investment to support the creation of more secure contracts of employment across the University.
5) Commitment to review arrangements for the employment of sessional and hourly-paid members of staff.
6) Commitment to the principle of paying the “rate for the job” and ensuring equal pay for work of equal value across the University.
You can download or read the full local claim document on our blog:http://reading.web.ucu.org.uk/reading-ucu-local-pay-and-equality-claim/
Be prepared for our emails relating to campaigns and updates on progress on these demands over the next few months! We have requested a special Joint Negotiation Committee meeting, to be scheduled within the next four weeks, to arrange setting up negotiation committees and a timescale for negotiation and conclusion. We will let you know when this meeting will take place.
The next thing you can do to engage with these concerns in support of our claim is to come along to the two meetings we organised during next week with UCU National Executive Committee members:
– Tuesday 25th September: 13:00 Chancellor’s G07 Anti-Casualisation meeting with Jonathan White, UCU Bargaining Policy & Negotiations Official
– Thursday 27th September: 13:00 Chancellor’s G05 Pay Dispute Meeting with NEC Denis Nicole
You are currently being balloted about the national pay claim and dispute (have you voted? Don’t forget to post your ballot paper!). The national pay claim covers not only adjustments to our pay which has suffered a real-term decrease against inflation and rising living costs. It also asks employers to address gender pay equality, workloads and precarious contracts. There are therefore strong links between negotiations and UCU campaigns nationally and our local claim. This will help to reinforce the message to employers that tackling these issues is overdue!
Please do come along to these meetings to get the updates from UCU nationally, and also for a brief update on our local claim.
Best wishes,
Reading UCU committee