And breathe....
Rebuilding Cardiff University collaboratively.
I was away on holiday when the settlement was reached to avert strikes and other disruptive industrial action at Cardiff University over the next few months, but I was able to join the UCU meeting which accepted the deal online. I am grateful to our union negotiators, the other unions involved, and everyone really who campaigned to restore sanity at Cardiff, including staff, celebrities, politicians in the Senedd, the House of Commons and House of Lords, and those journalists who have shone a light on what was happening. Dr Andy Williams gave a great account of this on behalf of Cardiff UCU on BBC Wales. The deal, which takes compulsory redundancies off the table for 2025, is a victory for common sense.
Until I got away on holiday I don’t think I had appreciated the full impact of the last three months on my own physical and mental health. I know UCU has submitted some devastating testimony on the way the University’s actions have damaged staff mental and physical health in general. Like many others I have been driven forward by adrenalin and anger since the end of January. Three months of that intensity is enough. Now we can breathe again. And believe me, breathing is a bit of an obsession for us asthmatics….
The University management caved in because it was afraid of a Marking and Assessment Boycott and protests during graduation. The UEB also wanted something to wave before the Senedd when senior managers appear on 12 June, and before the University Council meets on 17 June.
Nevertheless, over 1200 of us remain ‘at risk’ of redundancy, because the University continues to use psychological pressure to force people to take voluntary redundancy. Let’s hear no more about ‘Dignity at Work’ policies while those letters warning us our posts are in scope for redundancy, sent on 29 January, remain in place. The next task is to get them lifted, so people can start to plan their teaching for next year and re-engage with their research without these unnecessary distractions. As the joint statement from the University and the unions acknowledged last week:
Trade union colleagues have emphasised the need for further clarity for those staff who remain in-scope. Valid questions have been raised about the outcome of the consultation process, and when staff will be informed of those outcomes.
Rebuilding Cardiff University after this will require collaboration. I am glad that the University has promised the unions that it will work co-operatively in future, rather than deploying the macho management shock and awe approach we saw three months ago. I was pleased to see something approaching an apology from the University in the statement issued on 30 April:
We want to recognise the very real human impact that the Academic Future project has had, and the level of anxiety felt more broadly across the academic and professional services. Again we have committed to working in partnership together to assess the steps that we can take to ensure that we are looking after the health and wellbeing of our staff.
However, if the University management genuinely want to work collaboratively, then they will move fast to try to restore the trust and goodwill amongst staff that is essential to rebuilding the University. They should start by addressing the ‘in scope’ issue and removing the ‘at risk of redundancy’ notices affecting 1200+ of us.
I said in March that Cardiff University is not broke and it is not a basket-case. If you want to know what a higher education basket-case looks like, have a look at Dundee, which required a £20 million bail-out from the Scottish Government. It was a serious strategic error by Cardiff University senior management to position our University, which has deep pockets in terms of cash and investments, and is well able to manage its way through its challenges, in a similar crisis category. This has had a damaging impact on the University’s reputation, domestically and internationally. Since then many of us have tried to contribute constructively to the debate on Cardiff University’s future, submitting critiques and alternatives.
Let’s hope people are listening, and over the next few months steps are taken to restore trust and goodwill.
The Union had a mandate for no compulsory redundancies, and has achieved that, which is why union members voted to accept the deal. I agree with you about the continuing anxiety suffered by those of us in scope. I don't think the University's hand has been strengthened. The University has been stung by the reaction to their ill-judged actions.
"A victory for common sense"? I'm quite staggered by that statement. All this does is
a) strengthen the University's hand at future negotiations by using this as precedent
b) delay the possibility of redundancies by a few months causing an even longer period of anxiety for those in scope
c) cause further chaos with the rest of the consultation plans, as the merging of schools will now presumably take place before any staffing decisions have been made.
I am in a state of dismay and shock at the vote by UCU members on this. This is not a positive, or a win, or common sense. This is a further weakening of the workers and a strengthening of University management.