Helping colleagues for the “feel good factor”

At St Andrews, as in all of its Local Associations, the UCU relies on volunteers to run the branch, recruit new members, formulate and implement local strategies in response to University management policy, and negotiate with the University.

It also relies on volunteers (‘caseworkers’) to advise and support members facing any employment-related difficulty.  Their work is arguably the most important potential benefit that any individual member can get from membership.  Their free advice and assistance certainly represents the greatest direct value any individual member will receive in return for their subscription.

Some caseworkers may have another role within the Union (departmental rep, branch officer), but being a caseworker does not require anything other than being prepared – on occasions chosen by the caseworker – to advise members of their rights and to ensure compliance with employment law, negotiated agreements and best practice norms.

Casework is not in any sense part of ‘union politics’.  All that is required is an inclination to see justice done and a willingness to help ensure that it is.  Attached are a couple of articles you might find helpful/interesting – one is a “Casework Quiz” and one is a Q&A written by members who have been on the reps training courses.

Numbers of members needing casework support at St Andrews has been on the increase. This has meant increased pressure on the current team and occasional difficulties in finding a caseworker.  If we do not get more volunteers trained to augment the team, we will have increasing difficulty in meeting demand.  You and your fellow members will be the losers.

In order to make the route to caseworker simpler and to provide support for new caseworkers, we are proposing:

• to have an introduction to casework training in the form of one two-hour session, provided on site and based around the caseworkers’ guide
• to provide mentoring for newly trained volunteers
• to organise/facilitate attendance at UCU-run caseworker training sessions (5 x one day sessions)

If you feel you may be able to help – now or in the future – please answer the questions below and reply to me (using email address ucu@st-andrews.ac.uk  as soon as possible please).  Once we have analysed the responses we shall get back to all responders with a proposed training/induction schedule and other information.  Volunteering for training does not mean future pressing into service – at this stage it just opens the way for you to explore the possibility of being a caseworker. This is an equal opportunity appeal – all ages and all levels of experience will be welcome.

We would urge you to consider seriously this appeal, because the continued erosion of our caseworker base (or, worse, its possible future loss) will expose all members to increased levels of employment risk.