Please see the attached press release regarding the IWGB’s historic victory against the University of London at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
We hope you’ve seen the email below from Kim Frost, which has confirmed that the University have finally given up their court battle against us!
We’ll obviously be checking the small print to make sure they haven’t tried to trick us again and control this process more than they should. But on the whole this is good news – it now means that we are going to get to choose our negotiating reps for the first part of the process of setting up the new forum.
We’ve been fighting hard for this in order to ensure all staff are properly represented, and to force the University to consult as widely as possible on vital issues and decisions affecting all staff.
Now we need your help!
Please could you take five minutes to:
- Let us know if you think what Kim is proposing is fair (e.g. two grade 6s and three grade 7s). Is there a better way of setting ‘constituencies’?
- Let us know if you would be up for standing for one of these positions – we need to have as many IWGB candidates as possible!
- Let us know if you can help out by campaigning and speaking to people once the process begins.
Any questions, let us know, and thanks as ever for your support!
Here is the email (our favourite bit is in italics):
Informing and Consulting our Staff
You may remember that around this time last year the University held a vote to ask employees to agree the appointment of employees nominated by our recognised trade unions to represent all staff in negotiating with the University over arrangements for consulting and informing staff under the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004. These regulations give employees the right, for example, to be informed about their employer’s economic situation and to be informed and consulted about issues which might affect job security.
Our current arrangements to carry out information and consultation are contained in our agreements with our recognised trade unions, UCU and Unison. However as these agreements do not extend to the relatively small number of staff in Level 10, they do not cover the whole of the University’s workforce. This meant that when, in November 2014, the University received a request from over 10% of our employees to establish information and consultation arrangements specifically under the Regulations, the University was required, notwithstanding its established arrangements with the recognised trade unions, to make arrangements for employees to appoint or elect negotiating representatives with a view to agreeing how the University would inform and consult its workforce specifically under the Regulations.
Consequently we asked staff to vote in a ballot in February 2015 on whether they wished those employees nominated by the recognised trade unions to act as their negotiating representatives for these purposes. A majority of those voting approved their appointment.
However, a member of staff made a successful complaint to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) that the process we followed did not satisfy the requirements of the Regulations. This decision was upheld on 15 January by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
I would wish to make clear that the University’s understanding, supported by external legal advice, was that the process we followed in February 2015 did meet the requirements of the Regulations. However, there was no previous case law on this aspect of the Regulations to guide our understanding. The CAC and EAT decisions have clarified these legal requirements.
Starting the Process
In light of these decisions, the University intends to start a new process through which staff will elect their negotiating representatives. These representatives will then seek to agree, with the University, the procedure under which the University will informing and consult its employees under the Regulations. This notification is therefore given for the purposes of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004, and is issued on 26 January 2016.
Appointing Representatives to agree arrangements for informing and consulting staff
For the purposes of the election, there will be two constituencies. The first constituency will comprise all staff in Levels 1 to 6. The second constituency comprises all staff in Levels 7 and above.
Staff in Levels 1-6 will be asked to elect two representatives. Staff in Levels 7 and above will be asked to elect three representatives. The two negotiating representatives elected from the Level 1-6 constituency will represent all Level 1-6 staff. The three negotiating representatives elected from the Level 7 and above constituency will represent all staff in Level 7 and above.
Using these two constituencies will in our view ensure that each group is adequately represented in the negotiations. The number of representatives to be elected by each constituency also reflects the relative numbers of staff in each group.
Any member of staff may stand as a candidate for election to represent employees in their constituency as a negotiating representative. Candidates employed in Levels 1-6 will therefore be standing for election to represent all Level 1-6 staff. Candidates employed in Level 7 and above will be standing for election to represent all staff in Levels 7 and above.
We will be inviting staff who wish to stand for election to notify us of that by a specified deadline.
A ballot will then be held over a two week period and will be run by the Electoral Reform Society.
What will the Negotiating Representatives be asked to do?
The elected negotiating representatives will be asked to negotiate an agreement (covering all staff) with the University which will set out the issues on which the University will inform and consult its employees and how this information and consultation will be carried out.
If an agreement can be reached with all negotiating representatives, that will be the procedure which will apply going forward.
If agreement can only be reached with a majority of the negotiating representatives, the University would conduct a further ballot in which staff would be asked to vote on whether or not to adopt the agreement reached with the majority of the negotiating representatives.
Do the Representatives have a wider continuing role?
No. Their only role at this stage is to represent employees in their constituency in negotiations with the University on the content of an information and consultation agreement. Their role as negotiating representatives ceases once agreement is reached or if negotiations are unsuccessful.
Following the conclusion of these negotiations, information and consultation representatives will need to be elected or appointed and it is these representatives who would represent you going forward, receiving information from, and being consulted by, the University on your behalf. How these representatives would be elected or appointed, and their term of office, is something that will be decided in the negotiations with the negotiating representatives.
What topics are covered by Information and Consultation?
It is for the University and the negotiating representatives to agree how the University will inform and consult its staff and on what topics. However, these information and consultation arrangements typically cover issues such as the University’s activities and economic situation, the structure and development of employment within the University, as well as decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation such as large scale redundancies (unless these are being consulted on under separate legal consultation obligations).
Does this cover Negotiation with the University on Pay and Conditions?
No. The Regulations only cover information and consultation, rather than negotiation. They do not cover negotiation on pay and conditions. These will remain covered by national and local agreements with our recognised trade unions UCU and Unison.
What Is the Timescale?
By the end of January we will issue an invitation to staff to nominate themselves as candidates for election as negotiating representatives for their constituency. We expect to hold the election in March.
K B FROST
IWGB President Jason Moyer-Lee was interviewed by HispanTV regarding the new strike laws that are to be introduced in the UK.
Here is the interview:
This Friday at 12.30 will be our first branch meeting of the year, so please do come along to say hello, exercise your democratic rights as a member of the best union around, and celebrate our recent and glorious victory at the EAT! There may even be snacks…
This month, rather than getting lost in the bowels of IoE and having to call out mountain rescue, we are in room 246 in Senate House (SAS, 2nd floor – go left out of the lifts).
With these salubrious surroundings in mind, and the case having ramifications for all staff, we’d like to encourage you to bring along as many friends and colleagues as you can. Proper voting will be for IWGB members only, but general discussion will be open to all. This is a great moment for us to show people what IWGB does and try to get people to join. We’ll also be talking about pay, so that’s another hot topic that everyone should be interested in. All welcome!
Those details again:
Friday 22 January
Room 246, Senate House
12.30-1.30PM
All welcome
Looking forward to seeing you there. If you can’t make it, then please come to the Saturday meeting, 23 January, 1pm, IWGB Office, 80 Lamb’s Conduit Street.
The IWGB presents a screening of Limpiadores, directed by Fernando Luis González Mitjáns.
The doors will open at 15:30 and the event will start at 16:00 with an introduction by Robinson ‘El Comandante’. Afterward this the film with screen, followed by a Q&A with the direction, Fernando Luis González Mitjáns.
There will be food!
Any donations would be greatfully recieved!
Everyone is welcome, especially IWGB members and comrades!
For more information, please see the attached flyer.
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IWGB (Independent Workers of Great Britain) presenta la proyección de Limpiadores, dirigida por Fernando Luis González Mitjáns.
Las puertas se abrirán a las 15:30 y el evento comenzará a las 16:00 con una introduccion de Robinson ‘El Comandante’. Después se mostrará la película, seguida por una sesión de preguntas y respuestas con el director, Fernando Luis González Mitjáns.
¡Habrá comida!
Todas las donaciones serán muy agradecidas.
¡Todos son bienvenidos, especialmente miembros de IWGB y compañeros!
Para obtener más información, consulte el folleto adjunto.
We’re delighted to announce that last Friday the University of London lost its case against us at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (see more details and background here)
This means that they have to re-run the process whereby staff get to choose the people who will represent them in negotiations with management about what the future information and consultation of employees (us!) will consist of.
This is also a massive victory for the IWGB, who were represented by two lawyers, in contrast to the UoL’s £10k per day QC!
As soon as we know more details of how the re-run process will work we’ll be in touch, but in the meantime do let us know if you have any questions – uol@iwgb.org.uk.
The letter below has been passed on to Sir Richard Dearlove and to the Board of Trustees.
Dear Sir Richard
I am writing again to the Board of Trustees with regard to the ongoing issue of Co-Sector, which I understand is to be discussed at your January meeting, since this comes within the Board’s to exercise ‘guardianship over the University’s assets and resources, and ensure[] their effective management, control and use’.
As you know, since I last wrote to you, the CoSector CEO has departed, and a new business plan is being formulated.
However, though it appears that previous plans are being scaled back, there are still a number of extremely serious issues which need to be addressed, and upon which information has not been provided.
I hope the Board will agree with the suggestion that it should:
- Commission an investigation into how much has been spent on the Shared Services / CoSector project since its inception in 2013 and to ascertain why, in 2016, a business plan has not yet been produced.
- Put in place processes to ensure that future projects are undertaken with due diligence and proper oversight.
- Avoid a repetition of the problems that have dogged CoSector by mandating that any future plan be subject to a full risk assessment, and the business case be independently assessed.
- Provide categorical assurances to staff as to their employment status. Staff have been cavalierly treated in this regard, being told:
- In January 2014 – that they may be TUPE’d to a new organisation
- In September 2014 – that ‘the Shared Services business unit will be a department of the university’
- In July 2015 – that they will be seconded to CoSector
- In December 2015 – that ‘any change of terms and conditions was not proposed by the University at this stage’.
This approach has greatly undermined confidence in the employer, has been extremely stressful and demotivating for staff, and needs to be properly addressed immediately.
Please could you acknowledge receipt of this email, and confirm that these issues will be raised at the January meeting?
I have sought to keep this relatively brief, but should you require more information about this lengthy process please do not hesitate to ask.
Best wishes
Danny Millum
Treasurer, Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB).
We’re kicking off 2016 by thinking about PAY at the University of London – specifically how to make sure that in 2016 we get a proper pay rise, rather than the miserable 1% that finally dribbled into our pay packets at the end of November.
Over the last 5 years we’ve had ‘rises’ of 0.3%, 1.0%, 1.0%, 2.0% and now 1.0%. When weighed against inflation over that period we have essentially suffered a pay cut of over 15%.
Even the increase in London Weighting only amounts to an average of £341.50/year over four years (before tax!) which hardly offsets the huge rental and transport increases we have to cope with.
So what do you think? Do we deserve better than this? If so, we need to start campaigning early for a substantial rise this year – let’s push for 5%. Our thinking at the moment is to make posters and fliers, write to the University, circulate a petition and generally up the ante BEFORE any negotiations even begin.
HE pay is decided nationally, BUT:
- Every University feeds back to the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association saying how much they can afford and how strong pressure is from staff.
- The University of London also makes local decisions over pay – such as with London Weighting. Under pressure, they are more likely to grant a local increase.
We’ll need lots of members to help if this is going to work – though what more motivating cause is there than our own pay? 😉
Please get in touch with Danny (danny.millum@sas.ac.uk) or Catherine (Catherine.morrissey@london.ac.uk) and come to the next branch meeting on Friday 22 January at 12.30 to help organise the campaign!
Next Friday, 15 January, IWGB meets UoL in court (again!) to argue that UoL broke the law last year when it set up an employee consultation forum featuring only members of the UNISON and UCU committees.
With bags of students’ money to burn, UoL management has decided to appeal to the EAT (Employment Appeal Tribunal) against the resounding victory IWGB won on this case at the Central Arbitration Committee hearing last summer. By re-engaging their previous QC David Reade, UoL looks set to bring the total spend on this pointless action up to at least £20,000. It seems there’s no expense spared when it comes to avoiding meaningful engagement with staff!
Following the appalling stitch-up between UoL and its favourite unions over London Weighting, IWGB used the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations (ICE) to force UoL to set up a forum to consult directly with staff – but UoL attempted to circumvent the law by designing the forum in such a way that it would simply be tacked on to their existing (and exclusive) recognition agreement with the dynamic duo.
IWGB Secretary Catherine Morrissey is the named party in the case and will be attending the Tribunal supported by IWGB President Dr Jason Moyer-Lee, ably represented by a QC and counsel from Cloisters Chambers. The hearing is open to the public so all IWGB members (and indeed any UoL staff) are very welcome!
We’ll keep you posted about any developments on the day and of course when we hear the outcome.
EAT hearing details:
Friday 15 January
10.30-16.30
Fleetbank House, Office Of Fair Trading, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8JX
Independent Workers Union of Great Britain - Universities of London Branch 