Workload & ISD reorganisation - general meeting reminder Thu 25 Mar, 1-2pm - motion on workload

This is a second reminder for our next Extraordinary General Meeting of UCL UCU on Thursday 25 March from 1-2pm, facilitated using Zoom conferencing - click here to RSVP.

A total of 42 posts are being deleted in an ISD organisational change proposal. This includes 18 members of the Health Creatives team and 12 members of Digital Media Services. A motion opposing this change was circulated yesterday but is copied in Appendix 2 for reference.

Many members: teaching fellows, professors, and administrative, professional services and research staff, from a wide range of departments, are reporting that they are simply unable to manage their current workload within their contracted hours. Many have not taken leave entitlements and working days have extended far beyond 7.3 hours.

We have received a second motion for debate on workload and planning for the 2021/22 academic session. This is attached below in Appendix 1. 

As the motion says, we believe we are facing a workload crisis at the very point that UCL needs to engage with staff in forward planning for 2021/22 and consult staff about new ways of working for a return to campus. We are also seeing some additional demands on staff with respect to Term 3.

The motion outlines several steps we think are necessary to ensure that any excessive workload that staff have accepted in the current extraordinary year does not become permanent, and that staff goodwill is not taken for granted.

We hope you can attend this important meeting. Click here to RSVP and we will send you an invitation shortly before the meeting.

UCL UCU Executive Committe

Appendix 1 Motion - The current UCL workload crisis and planning for 2021/22

UCL UCU notes:

1. Incomplete consultation in 2019-20 between UCL and trade unions through Health and Safety Committee prior to the pandemic, reviewing workload models. This built on other initiatives, e.g., the IOE standardised workload model used to plan staff allocation and workload. With a majority on part-time contracts, Teaching Fellows and PGTAs have built up expertise in monitoring workload hours. 
2. In 2020/21, UCL recruited 3,000 additional students (~8%) above 2019/20 levels. Mitigations were limited to:

• • Course rationalisation 
  • Teaching (primarily) online
  • Express de-prioritisation of research duties
  • Limited additional recruitment (the initial recruitment freeze was partially lifted)

3. Cases of UCL managers responding to student demands by simply seeking additional unpaid workload from staff, e.g., extra ‘non-core’ teaching, blended learning, more face-to-face tutorials etc.

4. UCL’s financial position has changed from a large projected deficit to being on course for >£50m surplus this year.
5. UCL has made some additional offers to staff, including 4 additional leave days in 2020/21 session, and a ‘do what you can’ policy for home working.

UCL UCU further notes that workload is:

1. A contractual issue. Full time staff on standard UCL contracts are entitled to limit their workload by contract to 36.5 hours a week (7.3 hours a day during weekdays), and to take 41 weekdays off a year as leave (including closure days), equivalent to 1,604 hours a year. Part time staff are entitled to the same rights pro-rata. 
2. A health and safety issue. Stress is the single largest cause of death and serious injury among university staff, negatively impacting on physical and mental health. Chronic excessive workload is a major source of long-term stress. 
3. An equalities issue. Expecting some staff to work in excess of their contract may be discriminatory. If staff with health or caring needs are not enabled to work to their contracted hours, then UCL cannot claim to be carrying out reasonable adjustments.

UCL UCU believes that we are facing a workload crisis at the very point that UCL needs to engage with staff in forward planning for 2021/22. UCL simultaneously wishes to consult staff about new ways of working for a return to campus. 

1. Many members: teaching fellows, professors, and administrative, Professional Services, and research staff, from a wide range of departments, have reported that they are simply unable to manage their current workload within their contracted hours. Many have not taken leave entitlements and working days have extended beyond 7.3 hours.
2. Lockdown has complicated the situation, managers and staff have often been separated, and both groups have been home working for all or part of the year. Periods of home schooling have also had a severe impact on staff with school age children in their household.

UCL UCU resolves to:

1. Develop a workload campaign among staff to:
   1. Ensure that staff know how many hours they are working, and are expected to work by contract, and what their rights are to decline unreasonable demands
   2. Share workload data between staff in departments
   3. Encourage new union representatives to come forward
   4. Build a network between departments to share models and data
   5. Take collective action should it be required
2. To demand that UCL SMT:
   1. Issue a clear statement recognising the scale of the workload crisis, both at the present time and in forward planning for 2021/22, accepting that more teaching staff will need to be recruited to match student number growth.
   2. Negotiate with UCL UCU and other campus trade unions and staff representatives to align workload with contractual obligations as part of staff allocations for 2021/22, and institute forward monitoring arrangements.
   3. Instruct HoDs not to place additional demands on staff in the meantime.
3. If UCL does not agree to negotiate, to call another EGM in Term 3 to discuss next steps, including moving towards a trades dispute.

Appendix 2 Motion - Responding to the organisational change proposal in ISD

UCL UCU notes:

1. The publication by UCL ISD management of an organisational change proposal that:
   1. deletes 42 posts, threatening staff with redundancy;
   2. creates 56 posts, most of which will not be suitable redeployment opportunities for at-risk staff;
   3. proposes the closure of the Health Creatives and Digital Media groups, outsourcing the majority of the work;
   4. is "cost-neutral", meaning that no new investment is forthcoming at a time when ISD services have never been more important.
2. There are some welcome additions to sections that support online learning, and information security areas.

UCL UCU believes:

1. That the change proposal is driven by outsourcing, both directly, in outsourcing two groups, and indirectly, in preparing ISD for further outsourcing of services.
2. Declaring work done by groups 'no longer part of the ISD mission' is not sufficient justification to threaten academic related staff who provide a valuable service to the UCL community with redundancy.
3. Just 30 days cannot be meaningful consultation on such wide-ranging changes.
4. UCL should be increasing ISD funding.
5. UCL should not prioritise accruing a 'surplus' (profit) over maintaining and enhancing in-house service provision.

UCL UCU resolves:

1. To call on UCL ISD management:
   1. to rule out compulsory redundancies in the reorganisation of ISD;
   2. to cancel plans to outsource the work performed by the Health Creatives and Digital Media groups, and to keep the work in-house;
   3. to extend the consultation period to 90 days.
2. To encourage colleagues to lobby UCL in support of the work done by staff threatened by this proposal.
3. To strengthen the Organisational Change Procedure so staff can give early, formative input in the change process.
4. If management refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies, to declare a local industrial dispute and to ballot members on industrial action.