Porters’ Union prepares to take action against University managers
A legal challenge to the University over proposed changes to portering contracts is being drawn up by lawyers acting for the public services union, Unison, following a prolonged dispute between porters and University managers.
Unison argues that the proposed changes to contracts, which would require porters to move around between colleges and include alterations to shift patterns and working hours, constitute unfair dismissal, inasmuch as they effectively dismiss porters from a previous contact and re-engage them on different terms.
According to University porters, the most contentious proposed change is the ‘flexibility’ clause which will require staff to work between different colleges, rather than being allocated permanently to one in particular.
One University porter said on Friday: “Flexibility is alright in its place, but bang goes customer care. In this college here, I treat the students like my sons and daughters. I care for them. If they’ve got a problem, they come and speak to us, and we try and sort it for them.
“If you’ve got somebody here who doesn’t know the college and doesn’t know the students, you’ve got no customer care. If the students see people they don’t know, they’re not going to trust them to come and talk to them.”
Another porter raised concerns about the security implications of ‘flexibility’, saying: “I think the only time that someone will actually sit up and take notice is if there’s an accident. If I’m in a strange college that I don’t know, and a fire breaks out somewhere and I need to get to it, I’ll be thinking where the hell is that location? And there’s some poor student burning to death because I can’t get there.
“Or if somebody has a heart attack in their room, and you don’t know where that room is, you’re not going to get there in time. We’re all first aiders, and if something like that goes wrong here, we can be in any room of this college within two or three minutes because we know where they all are. This is our college, and it should stay our college, but it’s not going to.”
Unison Regional Officer Phil Booth said “staff feel they are being threatened into signing away their legal rights to protection against significant changes to their hours of working.” Unison is currently balloting its members on the issue, and plans to take their case to an employment tribunal.”
The changes are being introduced in accordance with the Framework Agreement, a new grading and pay structure introduced at the University in August, in accordance with the Higher Education Roles Analysis, a nationally recognised role evaluation methodology designed to ensure “equal pay for work of equal value.”
A University spokesman said on Friday “We have given statutory notice of the contract changes and they are being introduced in accordance with legal requirements.
“The Framework Agreement will result in reduced hours, increased holidays and improved sick pay for staff. But with that modernisation of pay and conditions, we need to modernise working arrangements and the Framework Agreement has always encompassed these two complementary factors.
However, Phil Booth said of this: “What the University have done, which we believe they shouldn’t have, is to bolt on unfair employment changes to the Higher Education Roles Analysis, which are not part of HERA or the Framework Agreement. It would appear to be a cost-cutting measure.”
By Heidi Blake
DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
