Concerns over instructions regarding strike reporting
Francesca Fowler;
Linda Mortimer Pine;
Jenny Creagh;
Roger Gair;
20/2/18
Dear Francesca,
Following your letter appended to an email sent to Academic and Academic Related staff on 15 February, members have continued to raise concerns and questions with us in large volume. The onerous method of strike and ASOS reporting which has been outlined as a requirement at the University of Leeds, accompanied by what many have identified as a threatening or intimidating tone taken towards trade union members exercising their legal rights, does not seem to be a reasonable instruction, given that the letter notes (as have discussions with your colleagues in HR) that deductions will not be made until theMarch payroll. Members are questioning the stated need to report week by week on industrial action taken on this basis. Members are also questioning the tight time frames outlined for making a report in each strike week.
Along with many members, theUCU committee notes that there are serious weaknesses in the SAP reporting system, which are well known and have been discussed in joint meetings between unions and HR.Members will only be able to access the SAP system if they are onsite, or able to get the remote access system (Citrix)working. Citrix has a history of some unreliability too, and itwill pose a furthersignificant problem to members who rely on mobile tablets or phones to access the internet while they are offsite, because it only allows one to open the app, and not to type within windows that open inside it through such an interface (it requires a desktop or laptop). There are many perfectly valid reasons for which members may be working offsite on non-strike days, including but not limited to:a training course, in archives somewhere off-campus, attending a conference. We note that an email address is provided should members encounter issues with reporting via SAP, but this does not overcome the concerns and objections raised by members over the instruction to carry out weekly reporting in the timescales given.
As you might expect, UCU at Leeds have corresponded with other branches, and with the regional and national offices over this issue. We find that the University of Leeds stated requirements for weekly strike reporting in tight timescales, and using systems that HR have themselves often indicated are in sore need of renewal and are not fit for purpose, to be both an unreasonable instruction and a saddening indication of a divergence from previous, more reasonable approaches to registering participation in industrial action. We note that (as expected) seniormanagement in affected universities appear to be coordinating their responses to some degree (e.g. with respect to deductions they choose to apply for members undertaking action short of a strike) and as you will be aware, we also object to this shift towards a more hardline response. At the University ofLeeds,UCU formally and specificallyrequests an explanation of the stated requirement to report on industrial action in the manner outlined in your letter of 15 February at the earliest possible opportunity.
Best wishes,
Vicky and the UCU Committee, on behalf of our members