Living Wage Success University Agrees to Pay All Staff a Living Wage
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gair rhydd Monday February 24th 2014 | freeword | Issue 1023 All staff, including externally contracted cleaners (pictured), will now be paid at least the Living Wage Living Wage success University agrees to pay all staff a living wage She put the proposal to the University Ex- Ms. Dowden told gair rhydd of the news ditions of each company’s contract and now Tom Eden ecutive Board (UEB) on Monday 17th Febru- from her office where a bunch of flowers every single cleaner is paid the Living Wage. Editor ary and says the move has the full support stood next to a large ‘Thank You’ card, given “This has made a real difference to peo- of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Colin Rior- to her by some of the University’s cleaners ple’s lives and this [the flowers & card] is a A policy to pay every single member of Car- dan, adding that, “He is personally very com- who had benefited from this decision. very moving gesture.” diff University staff at least the living wage mitted to this.” She explained that it has been a lengthy Ms. Dowden made clear that a wide range was officially approved last week. It is believed that, if the application is suc- and complex project to get off the ground, of people had been working on getting the The move by the University to seek accred- cessful, Cardiff University would become the not least with the nature of the cleaning con- University to a stage where it was able to ap- itation as a ‘Living Wage employer’ was pro- first University in Wales to be an accredited tracts. ply for Living Wage accreditation. posed by the newly promoted Acting Chief Living Wage employer, paying a minimum “We have thirteen separate cleaning con- Operating Officer, Ms. Jayne Dowden. hourly rate of £7.65. tracts so we had to change the terms and con- Continued on page 7 >> CARDIFF STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS 2014 SATURDAY 4 COURSE TICKETS £29 10 MAY 2014 MEAL AVAILABLE@ GREAT HALL WITH CHAMPAGNE CARDIFFSTUDENTS. STUDENTS’ UNION RECEPTION, WINE COM/BOXOFFICE 7PM–11.30PM & AFTER PARTY CARDIFF STUDENT MEDIA Monday February 24th 2014 | @mediacsu 3 EDITOR Tom Eden CO-ORDINATOR A note from the editor Elaine Morgan SUB EDITOR Jacob Dirnhuber NEWS Ashley Bebbington demonstrates that.’ I couldn’t agree more, but alongside the THE BALD HEAD SAID... Max Eshraghi LIVING WAGE POLICY PASSED staff there is another vital stakeholder in this Georgia Hamer University: the students. Rowan Whittington This decision to seek Living Wage accredi- tation came in the same week that the UCU OPINION union announced that some of it’s members Olivier van den Bent-Kelly will refuse to mark exam papers in the next Gareth Evans stage of its strikes to secure higher pay. Beth Lyons On both a personal level and as an Elected Officer, I support the cause of the staff who COLUMNIST feel like the 1% pay rise offered for lower paid tiers of the University is very unfair, especial- Jess McFarlane ly when compared to the alleged five per cent Charlotte Wace increase for the Vice Chancellor. However, there is no way that the staff should be us- POLITICS ing students as hostages in this fight for more Matt Harding Where else to start but this week’s front page money. Refusing to mark exams and essays is ‘The Bald Head Said...’ may go down as one of Greg Landon story? Following last week’s issue, which con- undeniable a bold move and one which will my lasting regrets as Editor of this paper. The tained a strongly written piece about why the certainly gain the attention of the national man above is Martyn Fowler, who has been SCIENCE living wage is essential (and in doing so may pay body (it’s not something individual uni- Head of Rugby here at Cardiff for the past Scott Davies have criticised the University and Students’ versities have control over), however it could eight years. This year, he has become quite the David Mason Union), I received several missed calls from mean students aren’t able to graduate when cult icon within the Media Office as the Sport the University’s Public Relations department. they should. team have somehow managed to include him Naturally, I thought I was in line for a stern From my position, as a student representa- in the paper on a near-weekly level. SOCIETIES word or two, but as the piece was an opin- tive, this is absolutely unacceptable, and the Because of his prominence within these Bryony Price ion piece, was fairly happy that we had done Students’ Union has quite rightly withdrawn pages, we regularly suggested he should have nothing wrong. It is certainly not the first its support for the action. You can read more a column. Suggested names for this proposed- CSM LISTINGS article that we’ve included advocating the about this on page 4. column included gems such as ‘Fowl Play’, but Anthea Crowe living wage and it’s something that has my we settled on ‘The Bald Head Said...’ due to wholehearted support. It also received major- GO GLOBAL Martyn’s trademark afro. Obviously. SPORT ity support from the Union’s democratic body; It is with sadness, then, that we found out Rory Benson Student Senate. Martyn will be leaving in the very near future, David Hooson Once I did finally end up speaking to the leaving the ‘Bald Head Said...’ as one of those University’s PR team, it was with some shock pipe dreams that unfortunately never materi- Ross Martinovic that I found out that Jayne Dowden - the new alised. Arthur Russell Acting Chief Operating Officer (effectively the All the best for the future, Martyn. Vice Chancellor’s right hand man or woman CONTRIBUTORS when it comes to running the non academic Taliesin Coombes Thomas Bamford parts of the University) - was submitting a Sum Sze Tam paper that, if passed, would mean the Univer- Anna Lewis sity’s official policy would be to pay every sin- Katie Evans gle member of staff at least the Living Wage Bronwen Weatherby (£7.65). James Griffiths The proposal was passed, apparently with Oli Dugmore the full backing of the VC, and I met with Matt Hale Jayne Dowden on Tuesday morning to find Lilly Harper out more. Daniel Faraz Alauddin Matthew Jones As soon as I walked into her office, the first On Saturday, the Great Hall was host to the Helen Wilson thing that I noticed was a big bunch of flow- annual Go Global spectacular. I was lucky Michael Arnott ers and one of the biggest ‘Thank You’ cards enough to be in the audience and it was an in- Geraint Harries I’ve ever seen. It was explained that these were credible evening with a hugely diverse range Gareth Short gifts from some of the cleaners who would be of acts, from Bellydancing to a hilarious adap- Harry Thompson benefiting from this pay increase to the bot- tation of Aladdin. Jon Chapman tom earners at the University. Every single act had clearly put a vast amount Jack Di Francesco Jayne was, quite rightly, very touched by of preperation in, and they all deserve mas- Kirstie Smith this gesture and was clearly very proud to be sive credit - it was such a good night! If you Vidya Brainerd Lisa Childs able to talk about this progressive and positive weren’t able to go, or just wish to re-live it, Nilarnti Vignarajah decision. then I have some good news. Cardiff Union Aaron Mathai Cari, the SU President, speaking about TV (CUTV) were there and filmed the whole Jake Smith the new policy said ‘‘It is important that the thing and it’s available to watch on their web- TOM EDEN Steffan Bryn Jones University truly values the staff who make its site and youtube channel. Just head across to Melda Lois Griffiths existence possible and this move is one which www.cardiffunion.tv to see what I’m on about! EDITOR Eliza Nicholas Ellie van Klaveren Joe Atkinson Paul Davies Sam Kimish Steffan Thomas We wish to make it clear that the man pictured in one of the photographs used in the article from issue Anna Athanasiadis 1021 entitled ‘‘NekNominate’ phenomenon critisised after drinking game is linked to two deaths’ was not Holly Duhig CLARIFICATION involved in a ‘NekNominate’ challenge and, as the picture was taken from 2012, does not show current activity. Lillith Hickling Bryony Humphreys GAIR RHYDD AND QUENCH MAGAZINE ARE PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY UNION CARDIFF, PARK PLACE, CARDIFF CF10 3QN TYPESET AND OUTPUT BY STUDENTS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY AND THEY ARE HELPED THROUGH DEADLINE NIGHT BY A PROUD PART OF DOMINO’S, WHO KINDLY PROVIDE THE TEAM WITH PIZZA SO THAT THEY DON’T GO HUNGRY WHILE MAKING THIS PAPER. CARDIFF STUDENT MEDIA 4 NEWS Pay dispute could affect students as UCU threatens ‘marking boycott’ As dissertation deadlines edge mer.” to students and sit down and talk to Thomas Bamford closer, it is unclear how students The last marking boycott took us seriously about pay. They have News Writer would be able to graduate or prog- place in 2006, once again over pay refused. It is their obstinacy that has ress with their degrees if the boycott issues. University staff engaged in forced our hand with the marking The University College Union’s were sanctioned. This boycott would the ‘mark and park’ boycott method, boycott.” (UCU) proposed ‘marking boycott’ is also affect students waiting to receive marking the essays yet refusing to re- There have been six strikes since planned to go ahead, a move intend- their grades in order to apply for lease them to the general public until October 2013, causing disruption to ing to resolve the on-going pay dis- placements, jobs and years abroad.