Personal Cases

A member, having been supported by a UCU representative, said '... you were a great help and made a really big difference at the meeting'.

One of the main roles of UMUCU is to provide individual advice, support and help to members who encounter problems at work. Typical cases involve:

• What happens at the end of a Fixed Term Contract.
• Redeployment issues.
• Problems with severance pay, early retirement or pension.
• Harassment by colleagues and management.
• Work related stress.
• Discrimination on the grounds of race, gender or disability.
• Threat of disciplinary action, or dealing with a student complaint.
• Promotion problems.
• Problems with discretionary pay.

Members considering seeking advice can look at the resources links below.

It is sometimes sufficient to analyse the problem with the member for a solution to become obvious, and then no further intervention by UMUCU is needed. When this is not possible UMUCU will intervene on members' behalf with management and personnel. We have earlier negotiated a grievance procedure which is available to members of staff as a means of seeking redress, and often recommend to members that they use it and exhaust it. Even this fails on occasion and UMUCU has supported members who took the University to an employment tribunal. National UCU has an established legal aid fund, which considers each case on its merits and may support a legal action financially.

Cases are usually handled by the volunteers from UMUCU executive but sometimes the NW region assistant secretary may become involved.

How to get help

Your problem will be dealt by one or two members of the UMUCU executive, one of whom will usually be in charge. Your complaint will be treated in strict confidence.
Email or telephone Fiona in the UMUCU office (0161 275 3080 or internal 53080)for an initial appointment.

Resources

Policies available from the university web site but some are hard to find, some are still in gestation and others are not yet fully agreed although they are in practice followed. The following is intended to be of assistance but it is not exhaustive.

• Statutes and Ordinances.
• Grievance. UMUCU always tries to resolve issues informally however on occassion it is necessary to invoke the univerity's Grievance procedure. However do note that the first step in the 'formal' procedure is an informal meeting to attempt to resolve the issues without proceeding further. The grievance is usually adressed to the management level immediately above that which is the subject of the grievance. So if a member is agrieved about something a Head of School has done, the grievance is addresssed to the Dean of the Faculty. This goes all the way up but gets complicated at the level of Vice President, in which case the Registrar will assign the grievance to another Vice President. If there's any doubt, the grievance goes to the Registrar who will make an appropriate assignment.
• Probation. The reference in Statutes for Academic Staff is XII.16 and the process as laid down in Ordinances (XXVI) is as you might expect generic. It makes reference to the 'Arrangements for Academic Staff' intended to cover induction and probation. These are not yet developed.
• Fixed Term Contract issues. Have a look at the FTC page. And here for issues around transferring from FTC to an Open Ended Contract (OEC). There is in existence a draft policy on the transfer which is in the main followed by HR.
• Redundancy. Most members of staff assume that the ending of a FTC means redundancy. Not so. It is redundancy only if the task ceases. The employer cannot simply get someone else to undertake that task. It is illegal.
• Stress. If your stress is caused by domestic circumstances then our advice would be to contact the university counselling service or the UCU service. If however it is work related, the sooner the situation is addressed the better. Check with the university policy. The university has a responsibility to ensure a minimum of stress in the workplace so if this is indeed the cause then a visit to Occupational Health will maintain confidentiality if you so wish.
• Sickness.
• Grading and Job Evaluation.
The situation is changing fast and there is actually remarkably little stable documentation. Have a look at our web page and if you don't find what you seek, ask.
• Recruitment Policy.
• Restructuring and Redeployment.
• Promotion. Academic promotions have restarted in late 2006 however there is still a hiatus with Academic Related promotions. We are urging the university to address this without further delay.
• Discrimination
• Research Assesment Exercise
• Individual rights and responsibilities of employees A readable guide to most aspects of employment law from the DTI (www.dti.gov.uk).

  Email or telephone Fiona in the UMUCU office (0161 275 3080 or internal 53080)for an initial appointment.