Branch Meeting Minutes

OUBUCU GM 2015-9-23 MINS

I) OPEN UNIVERSITY BRANCH OF THE UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION minutes of the general meeting held on 23rd september 2015 in B232 WIlson b block

Present: Pauline Collins, President and several branch members, see attendance list, plus 21 UCU members in the OU live room.

I III) MINUTES OF LAST MEETING I The minutes of the General meeting held on 30th June 2015, were agreed ) and are now on the branch website: http://ucu.open.ac.uk/meetings. 1 2 PRESIDENT’S REPORT (verbal) Pauline welcomed all members in the room plus 21 members in the OU live room and Lydia Richards, our UCU Regional Official. Locations Analysis Proposals Pauline reported that the branch is completely opposed to the proposals to close 7 OU regional centres in England. We have asked the OU to evidence claims made and for all the information considered which led to this recommendation. If these proposals are agreed by the University Council, this will change the OU as we know it and have a tremendous impact on both staff and students. This is the biggest challenge the Branch has had to face to date and we are up for the fight. The Exec earlier this morning agreed to ask the GM to proceed to a consultative ballot for industrial action and there is an emergency motion before the GM today. We can win this fight and we have the full support of UCU head office. 3 REGIONAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE – CAITLIN ADAMS Caitlin gave an overview of the campaign so far:  Messages of support have been received from other UCU branches and Miriam Stoppard. All our press coverage is on the branch website News page: http://www.ucu.open.ac.uk/news  Petition is live and gathering support, number of signatures on 23 September was 3216.  Article will appear in the new issue of Snowball, the AL newsletter.  Our next phase is to work on putting pressure on the OU Council members ahead of their meeting on 24 November.  Senate motion has been circulated – Senate meeting 14 October.  MP’s letter template has been circulated to our campaign mailing list but any UCU member can have this to send it to their MP – contact [email protected].  We will contact Jeremy Corbyn, the Minister and Shadow minister for Universities  We will contact approx. 900 famous OU alumni where we can find contact information to them.  We are hoping to organise rallies in some of the regional centre locations.  Our press activity is staggered so this is only the beginning.  Posters, flyers and a postcard will be produced for members to send to the VC telling him why the OU regions are so important.  OUSA position is currently neutral but we are working on an email/letter for the OUSA Executive.

of 4 OUBUCU GM 2015-9-23 MINS  Big Action group – if any member wants to get involved then contact [email protected] to be added to our mailing list and get access to our private forum.  Attend our photo opportunity outside the Berrill Building on 24 September – this photo is now on the OneMK website: http://bit.ly/1VdajQs. Lydia Richards spoke about the process UCU has to go through before it can take industrial action. This takes about 9 weeks. We will start with a consultative ballot to gauge member’s support for industrial action. We need to believe that we can win this, industrial action is a strong weapon and we will use it. 4 Following Discussion the emergency motion was put to members A member requested regular email bulletins, 2 or 3 points in each email. OU degrees won’t be as credible if these changes go through – the proposals are ludicrous and we can win this fight. HSC email from staff in Gateshead has been circulated. We need to keep up the morale as UCU is having an impact. A member asked what action we can take. These proposals might not affect some staff now but they may affect them in the future. A member asked about the Locations Analysis meetings – how is the VC approaching these meetings compared to KZ? Several members had taken part in the phone-ins, w/c 21 September. Our VC is new to the world of Higher Education and we think he’s relying on KZ’s knowledge of the OU and the way it works. We don’t think the OU were expecting this level of outcry and opposition. The VCE seem to think they’ve presented a good model and it will work. A member reported that these proposals are not just about the regional centres, it’s the first step in the process to creating an online centralised OU which will affect all staff. We want members to make public statements – join in with the debates on Yammer and OpenIdeas. A member reported that 12 months ago, staff in London were told that they were not in the scope of the Locations Analysis project and now they have been told that it will be closed. A member asked how the OU can retreat from these proposals. Council members might waiver. How is this “zombie project” putting OU students first?! A member asked if the evidence has been shared with UCU as we have a right to scrutinize the information. Pauline reported that we have received some information but not everything that we asked for. QAA review – December 2015? A member had been to the first MK Locations Analysis meeting in the Berrill today, and asked if the £5m savings will be invested in new SST staff. 5 Motion 2 (Emergency motion) “This GM deplores the proposed closure of 7 English Regional centres with a potential loss of up to 500 experienced and dedicated staff. We believe this proposal if implemented will have a long lasting negative impact on the experience of students as the centres targeted for closure potentially haemorrhage experienced staff leaving new and inexperienced staff to pick

of 4 OUBUCU GM 2015-9-23 MINS up the pieces. This GM calls on all OU UCU members to support the campaign to retain the centres. This GM calls on the NEC and HEC to support the campaign and ask other UCU branches to provide solidarity support include, petitions, motions, letters to MPs, and delegations to OU centres threatened with closure. This GM calls on the NEC and HEC to support a rally of members in Milton Keynes in November prior to final decision being made. This GM authorises the branch executive to begin the necessary consultation with members prior to a ballot for action.” Proposed by Bruce Heil Seconded by Lesley Kane An Exec member reported that the current level of hostility to these proposals would not go away, it would increase. We need the 12 OU Council members to know about the anger that has been caused. We need to draw on solidarity and boost staff morale in the regional centres. Lesley reported that ALs will be affected by these changes, would be managed centrally rather than from the English regions. This would mean losing the personal touch and (probably) more difficulty in solving simple problems, such as avoiding simultaneously overloaded groups on an AL’s modules. The motion was put to a vote and was passed unanimously. 6 HON SECRETARY’S REPORT - Circulated ahead of the meeting. JNC has approved the changes to the maternity leave policy around potential redundancy and management have agreed that this applies to all staff, both fixed term and permanent. Lesley reported that the AL reps’ committee and the executive committee had agreed to an AL pay campaign, and said that central staff were often not aware of how little ALs are paid for student support. Current pay on most level 2 and 3 30 credit modules only allows 45 minutes per student per presentation. ALs need at least an extra hour per student per presentation. The current arrangement has been in place for 20 years, during which the nature of the AL job has seen many changes. The AL reps’ committee has recommended that we seek a flat rate increase of 20 hours per presentation for extra work on student support on mainstream modules. 7 Motion 1 “This branch is conscious of the problems caused to our members, with portfolio careers, by the USS rule, which requires members to retire from all USS type work, before they can claim their USS pension. This affects our part time Associate Lecturer members, who have another employment contract within an HE institution, from which they wish to retire. In order to claim their USS pension, when they retire from their substantive employment, they are forced to give up their OU tutoring work. They cannot retire flexibly, as they would wish, by continuing with their part time OU AL work. This also similarly effects OU staff who have part time work with the OU or other HE institutions.

of 4 OUBUCU GM 2015-9-23 MINS This branch calls upon UCU to negotiate a rule change with USS, to allow flexible retirement for members who have more than one HE employment contract, allowing them to retire from one employment contract and draw their USS pension, whilst continuing their other part time employment.” Proposed by Judy Ekins Seconded by: Lesley Kane The motion was put to a vote and was passed unanimously.

8 IV) ANY OTHER BUSINESS - NONE 9 DATE OF NEXT MEETING: AGM at 12.30pm Wednesday 18th November 2015 in B232 Wilson B block or by OU live or MS Lync.