Agreement comes as several universities still in dispute over risk of redundancies
Staff at the University of Exeter have voted to accept temporary pay freezes because of financial pressures from Covid-19, while disputes continue to brew at several other universities.
Minutes of an Exeter UCU meeting on 24 July reveal members voted to accept pay and promotion freezes by 62 per cent to 38 per cent. The union had been in negotiations with management after the university proposed freezing pay and promotions as an alternative to compulsory redundancies in June.
Many universities are preparing for a drop in income as the coronavirus pandemic could see fewer international students paying fees and less cash generated from accommodation and conferences. Members of the UCU recently refused to back a national offer on the union’s ‘four fights’ issue of pay, equality, precarity and workload.
Pay and promotion freezes will be reviewed in January once student numbers have been confirmed and the university’s financial position is clearer, but the UCU branch said Exeter has not ruled redundancies out.
In a statement on 24 July the union said staff “will be making significant financial and professional sacrifices over the coming academic year” to help the university save money, and had done so “in the legitimate expectation that their jobs are protected”.
As part of the collective agreement with unions, the University of Exeter said it is trying to avoid redundancies by deferring capital projects and freezing recruitment while senior leaders are also taking a pay cut. A further consultation will take place with trade unions “once the full impact of the pandemic in 2020-21 has become clear”, the agreement states. Any redundancies that result will not take place before the end of January.
It comes as disputes between staff and employers continue at several universities. At the University of Reading, which is estimating a loss of £104 million over a three-year period, the UCU is in negotiations over cost savings to “dramatically reduce the risk of redundancies”, leaving 55 potential job cuts. The university did not confirm that figure, but a spokesperson said around 500 jobs could be at risk if no savings were made.
At Coventry University, where staff have gone on strike several times over the university’s appraisal system, union members are negotiating over redundancy risks. A spokesperson for Coventry University said that although the union had not lodged a dispute over an extension to working hours, consultation processes “which may lead to some redundancies…are still ongoing”.
Staff at Soas, University of London are also in dispute with management over potential job cuts. The university has been going through a cost-cutting consultation period since June, and on 30 July its board of trustees approved the so-called “Transformation & Change programme” that it says will “ensure the sustainability of the school”.
Soas told Research Professional News that it was “doing all we can to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies”, and that a “significant reduction in our staff costs” had been achieved through a voluntary severance scheme and a reduced hours scheme. The university is now in the second phase of the transformation programme, which it says involves formal consultation with trade unions.
Graham Upton, interim director at Soas, said: “We have been open, transparent and honest. From the very beginning, we have been straight about the need for there to be staff reductions to deal with the scale of the financial hit triggered by the pandemic. Soas is no different to scores of universities across the world which are in the same boat.
“We have made great progress here at Soas and I am increasingly confident of our ability to secure our short and long-term future. The restructuring process continues to be challenging but we are working hard with our staff community and with the unions to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies.”
Meanwhile, the UCU Solidarity Movement—a group of higher education union branches set up in May to co-ordinate on disputes involving jobs and wages—has called for a day of “physically distanced protests” as school leavers collect their A level results on 13 August. In London, several branches will demonstrate outside Soas, University of London from 12.30pm.