Summary on the 2022 Contract Negotiations 

The Contract Negotiations were initiated by the University Executive Team (UET) in Spring 2022, due to the imminent change of business address and change in benefits imposed by the campus move. This was seen as a chance to create standardized contracts that reflect current legal requirements for all employees at the University. The UCU looked to the negotiations as an opportunity to establish a progressive, forward-looking contract that ensured equality, fairness, and security for all faculty.  

The negotiations on full-time and fractional faculty contracts started in May, with meetings held with the UCU’s negotiating team, Staff Reps, and the Executive Team, on shared contractual items. The UCU identified a number of faculty-specific clauses that we wanted improved. Key clauses included: 

  • Notice Period – to ensure alignment with sector norms 
  • Confidentiality and Intellectual property – to ensure ownership of our scholarly research  
  • Benefits – noting the loss of lunch for some faculty 
  • Sickness Leave – ensuring that faculty can meaningfully take leave for illness 

In the process of negotiations, it became clear that several areas need to be simultaneously addressed in order to progress the contracts. These included Academic Role Profile, Benefits, and the Employee Handbook. Aligning these mutually affecting documents have slowed the progress of the contract negotiations as has the consultations with the University’s solicitors.  

During the negotiations, the UCU has succeeded in: 

  • reducing the notice period to 3 months    
  • ensuring ownership of our research and gaining clarification and limitations of other aspects of intellectual property 
  • reducing the punitive tone of the contract  
  • the inclusion of more explicit provisions for consultation of any changes in the terms

In addition to addressing specific clauses, we fought for a contract that was positive and collegial in tone, and that was easy to comprehend to ensure faculty clearly understand their rights and obligations: Where legalese still dominates, we have suggested FAQs are needed.  

We have outstanding concerns about Sick Leave and the change in benefits to employees, which we will continue to press for improvements for all faculty. 

The UCU succeeding in initiating simultaneous negotiations on adjunct faculty contracts, as a result of our campaigning on zero-hour contracts. The Union has been pressing for more secure employment for Adjunct Faculty who have taught the same courses over a number of semesters. The UET has set this at 4 years, the Union is pushing for the threshold for Guaranteed Courses Contracts to be lowered to 2 years.   

We are disappointed in the slow progress on the Guaranteed Courses for Adjunct Faculty which was further delayed by the Brazel Supreme Court ruling on seasonal part-time holiday pay. However, we insist that security and fairness be ensured in these contracts. We have consulted with Adjunct colleagues to create documents setting out clear roles and responsibilities, and guidance. The UET are optimistic in rolling out adjunct contracts during Spring 2023. 

Appraisal, Progression, and Promotion Faculty Feedback UCU Report

The Branch conducted a survey to gather faculty feedback on the roll-out of the workload, appraisal, progression, and promotion processes that were trialed as part of the Faculty Progression and Promotion Framework. A full-report is available here: Appraisals, Progression and Promotion Feedback Report

These findings and recommendations were reported to the University 9 December 2022.

Meetings with the University Executive Team are on-going, so if you have feedback you would like to share, please let us know: Richmonducubranch@richmond.ac.uk

Please contact us for more information on the Report, our findings, or methodology.

Survey – Appraisal, Promotion, and Progression

At UCU we advocate for all faculty in our campaigns to improve working conditions at Richmond. We are interested in ensuring faculty workloads are reasonable and fair. We also want to improve opportunities for personal and career development at Richmond. We support the implementation of the Faculty Promotion and Progression (FPP) scheme as a way to address these issues, however, our members have raised concerns about the trial faculty appraisals, progression and promotion scheme. 

We seek your feedback on the recent trial of the faculty promotion and progression (FPP) scheme, and your experience of the appraisals process. 

There has been ongoing concern about the faculty progression, promotion, and workload (FPPW) which we recognise and your views on your experiences of the trial will be invaluable in ensuring a fair and viable model is developed.

Please click the link to participate in the survey: Appraisal, Promotion, Progression Survey

Your views are very important to us, but your participation is entirely voluntary. All information provided by you will be anonymised to protect your identity. The feedback from faculty will be collated and used to feedback to the University Executive Team. It is hoped feedback will be used to help improve FPP moving forward. 

Many thanks for your time and your contributions to this important issue for us all

We are always looking for help and ideas from members, so please contact us if you wish to contribute to the work of the union.

We are stronger together! 

Richmond Uni Employees Offered 1.84% Pay Increase: UCU Richmond’s Response and a Call to Action

After a lengthy process of pay negotiations with the University’s Senior Management Team (SMT), Richmond Faculty and Staff have been offered a 1.84% pay rise (on a variable rate) to begin in January 2023. Given that the University had not budgeted for a pay rise, this offer is a welcome improvement that builds on the very low initial offer of 1.25%. However, it was our hope that the University would also take into account the steep rise in the cost of living currently being experienced by all of us working at Richmond.

In April, UCU Richmond made a well-founded pay claim to the University for an across-the-board pay increase of 11.99%. This claim was based on the inflation since the last pay increase in 2018 and historically low Richmond pay compared to HE sector averages (see pay factsheet below).

Thanks to the UCU Richmond Branch’s achievement of recognition by the University in February 2021, during these negotiations we have been able to represent all Faculty regarding pay and have made the following progress:

  • The University had budgeted £0 for a pay increase and we have moved them to the 1.84% offer through negotiation;
  • The University agreed to consolidate the increase into the pay scale, raising the maxima, instead of providing one-off payments for some faculty;
  • A new SMT-UCU working group on pay and pay scales is being established with the aim to close the gap between Richmond pay and HE sector averages;
  • The issue of pay is now recognised as a key issue with Richmond’s Board of Trustees who have made a commitment for the gap between Richmond and HE Sector averages to be closed;
  • SMT have committed to facilitating UCU Richmond being more meaningfully involved in pay discussions and negotiations with annual pay discussions due to take place from now on.

Despite this progress, UCU Richmond are disappointed with the end result of a 1.84% pay increase as this comes nowhere close to addressing cost of living and inflation increases and comes as a huge blow to morale after Faculty and Staff worked tirelessly through the pandemic. Faculty also donated their summer school 2021 teaching fees to the University in response to our financial crisis and the threat of closure which arose before the pandemic.

Throughout the pay negotiations, UCU Richmond has been frustrated by the University‘s divisive conflation of Faculty Progression and Promotion (FPP) with our demand for a universal pay uplift to compensate for huge increases in the cost of living. The University ‘warned’ that any pay rise above their initial offer of 1.25% would effectively ‘eat in’ to the budget for FPP and the final 1.84% increase has done so by 50%. UCU Richmond has polled its members, and it is the Branch’s position that these distinct budget areas should not be conflated for the following reasons: a) FPP is only being trialled at this stage, and b) FPP will only benefit a limited number of individual permanent Faculty: Adjunct Faculty, Instructors, and Staff are at present excluded from this process.

UCU Richmond strongly supports the intention behind the FPP and anticipates its full implementation after it has been successfully trialled so that the University can become competitive in terms of salaries, and particularly as it lags behind sector norms; however, the need for an across-the-board pay-lift must take precedence at a time when all Richmond’s employees are facing an unprecedented financial challenge.

In light of these in some respects disappointing negotiations with the University and with pay negotiations set to re-start at the beginning of 2023, UCU Richmond calls on all Richmond Faculty and Staff to join UCU. Increased numbers of Faculty and Staff – who ought to be equally represented within UCU Richmond – will strengthen our negotiation power in future rounds, as the University has repeatedly asked for ‘proof’ of our support base and questioned our ability to speak for all Faculty. We need your support to deliver a decent and fair pay rise for all.

Pay Offer Poll Results – 95% of Membership Reject Initial Pay Offer

The membership has voted 95% in favour of the Branch Committee’s recommendation to reject the University’s initial pay offer. This recommendation is based on the pay offer being too low (1.25%) and the UCU’s demand for a universal pay uplift – not individual, performance-based progression on a pay scale.

The Negotiating Team is bringing this message to the University Executive and will update the membership.

Branch Committee Recommends Rejection of University’s Initial Pay Offer

The Executive Team has presented the UCU with a pay offer, which was sent as an email from the President 30 May 2022. It is the Branch Committee’s recommendation that the current pay offer should be rejected. We believe that it does not begin to address the issues raised in our pay claim, especially the extent to which our pay has been devalued over the past 5 years in comparison to the rest of the HE sector. (For more on the UCU’s position, click here) 

We have a third negotiating meeting on June 7th. We would like to hear your response to this initial pay offer. 

Please complete the poll using the above link, before Monday 9pm, so we can bring your views to the Executive Team. 

If you have any questions, concerns or would like to get more involved please contact us.

Richmond 2022-2023 Pay Claim

Richmond The American University in London 2022-2023 Pay Claim

The Branch has submitted a pay claim as the members have urged. It is the first pay claim that the Committee will negotiate, however, as part of our Joint Recognition Agreement, it is a process we expect to engage in annually with the Senior Management team going forward. 

We researched income pressures that faculty are facing, consulted with our Regional UCU Officer, and considered Richmond faculty’s pay in the broader HE context. Based on all this information (see appendix and Pay Factsheet), we are asking for the following: 

  1. A pay uplift of 11.99% for all staff from 1stAugust 2022, to keep up with the cost of living (RPI) and to address some of the real terms pay lost from a lack of a pay increase since 2018
  2. A minimum hourly wage of £12 for all staff
  3. For the standard working week to be 35 hours for all staff with no loss of pay

For more information, including the Pay Claim, see: https://richmond.web.ucu.org.uk/richmond-2022-2023-pay-claim/