Anti-casualisation – DAY OF ACTION!
The University & College Union is organising a number of events in St Andrews to coincide with the national day of action against casualisation in higher education on Wednesday 6 March.
There will be a talk (1 – 2 pm, Seminar Room 2, MBS, North Haugh) from Deborah Shepherd, one of UCU’s regional officials, and drop-in clinics and workshops run by local members (2 – 4pm, Tutorial Room 1, MBS and Seminar Room 3, Physics Building).
Stamp Out Casual Contracts
UCU has a long history of fighting casualisation and demanding fair treatment for all our members and we know that campaigns against casualisation are supported by all our members – not just those who are directly affected. Casualisation in all its forms is a blight to further and higher education bringing with it inefficiency, inequality and personal stress. We want to change that.
The specific aims of the campaign are:
- to increase the use of permanent contracts for the many professional staff employed on casual contracts across further, higher and adult education
- to resist vulnerable employment, including the imposition of zero hours contracts, bogus self-employment, pay lower than that of colleagues doing comparable work, detrimental variable (minimum) hours contracts; and to seek equal treatment for agency workers
- to oppose selection for redundancy on the basis of being on a fixed-term and/or part-time contract
- to transfer hourly paid and other staff on casual contracts to full-time or fractional contracts with the same terms and conditions as permanent, full-time salaried staff
- to increase the recruitment and activism within UCU of those on casual contracts, and to encourage their voices to be heard
- to push for fair working conditions for staff on casual contracts, including photocopying facilities and desk space.
More information can be found at http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3532