The UCU Left is a national organisation of University and College Union activists. It is committed to ensuring that the new union has a democratic structure through which members can determine policy, and elected officers and professional officials can be held accountable. It seeks to defend educational equality, and to oppose the consequences of neo-liberal marketisation. It is opposed to all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism.
UCU Left - Policy Discussion - HP & FT Conditions
Please find below a brief introduction to a discussion document produced by UCU Left members on the subject of Fixed-Term (FT) and Hourly-Paid (HP) staff. As this is a discussion document we would welcome your comments and any suggested alterations. Please email your comments to uculeft@btinternet.com
Extracts of draft policy briefing document

Casualisation is a massive problem in both Higher and Further Education. The continuing employment of large numbers of staff on unstable contracts is an issue for the sector and for the union. This commission document looks at the changing legal framework of rights available to staff, how the employers have responded, and the tasks facing the union.

It is an absolute condition of a serious trade union to support those with the least rights and to raise the level of employment rights of these staff.

This is not simply a question of one-way solidarity. If hourly paid staff gain better contracts, it is harder for management to play them off against permanent staff. A culture of casual contracts means that those with permanent contracts may find themselves going the same way.

Staff on hourly paid contracts can be stuck doing dead-end duties with no prospects for promotion, e.g. teaching first-year courses but not second or third year, etc.

This has implications for the profession as a whole. Where there is a rise of easily-sacked hourly paid staff, these contracts are a key mechanism for implementing a market-driven ‘race to the bottom’.

The challenge for the left in the union is to fight to organise fixed term and hourly paid staff who traditionally did not join the union. The first task is to go on the offensive over the question of the employment rights of staff, demand equality and maximum protection, and go on a major recruitment drive.

If the union does nothing, or gets this wrong, then employers can use the law to reduce the rights of permanent staff. For example, Newcastle University proposes to reduce protection under its statutes for permanent staff on the grounds that these discriminate against fixed term staff.

In this situation the left has to persuade union members (most of whom are permanent) to fight to extend the existing protection to fixed term staff or lose it.

A fight over contracts is not an obscure issue. It is a fight for staff to be treated with respect.

Read the briefing document in full - available here (pdf)

New: calculating holiday pay for hourly paid staff

Legal opinion re 'comparators' - Birch v. Leeds Met Uni (pdf)

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