The 2012 AGM was held on Thursday 05/07/12 at Wakefield City
campus at Margaret Street. There were 20 members present.
1.
Last
years elected officers made their reports:
Highlights of the year included the 1st Wakefield
College Branch newsletter in September, the victory over IFL membership, The
new Wakefield College Branch blog, twinning the branch with Wakefield and
District NUT in May and support from colleagues in schools around the district
as well as from the Five towns trades council in relation to the strike on 10th
May. The Branch now has a hardship fund in place and there were donations to
this from local trades council, the NUT and £115 from staff. Members of the
committee had attended lobbies of the Conservative party conference in
Manchester, and the lobby of parliament in October. The march for the
alternative on March 26th and protests against the EDL in Dewsbury
in June.
2.
A new
election was held:
·
Peter Korn Morris from Wakefield Campus was
unanimously elected as Joint Secretary and Treasurer.
·
Mark Wilson from Thornes campus will take the
role of Health and Safety Rep.
·
Ken Spencer from Wakefield Campus was
unanimously elected as Joint Secretary and Membership Secretary.
·
Lesley Kimber from Wakefield Campus was
unanimously elected as Equality Rep.
·
There is a vacancy for Skills Exchange rep and a
member from this campus is considering whether to take this role.
·
Michael Ward from Wakefield Campus was
unanimously elected as Branch Chair.
3.
An
open discussion was held
One of the key themes that emerged from
this was that there appears to be a marked inconsistency in the way policies
and procedures are being applied in different departments and by different
managers. These inconsistencies have been noted even in terms of the
recruitment and appointment of new staff.
Another theme was the perception of the
college as a ‘good place to work’ has changed for many staff also that staff
perceive that their levels of stress and their workload have increased in the
past year. Some staff were felt that this was best reflected in terms of the
Sunday Times Best Public Sector (Not for Profit) places to work because
Wakefield College were 30th in the UK in 2010 and were awarded the
best public sector employer award for Yorkshire and the Humber for this year.
However this success was not repeated in 2011 or 2012 when the college was not
listed at all.
UCU will look into these matters.
4.
UCU
Campaigns
The committee highlighted that they are
running an anti-bullying and stress at work campaign with the support of
regional. This is an attempt to raise awareness amongst staff many of whom
might not be aware of the characteristics of bullying in the workplace or how
to identify it.
ACAS list some of the behaviours which
constitute workplace bullying and harassment:-
·
Constant criticism of competent staff, removing
their responsibilities or giving them trivial tasks to do.
·
Shouting at staff
·
Picking on staff in front of others or in
private
·
Obstructing professional development/blocking
promotion
·
Regularly making the same person the butt of
jokes
·
Setting a person up to fail by overloading them
with work or setting impossible deadlines
·
Regularly and deliberately ignoring or excluding
individual from work activities
·
Ignoring staff views and opinions
·
Different rules for different people
·
Criticism and threats
·
Excessive monitoring
·
Unrealistic expectations
If any member of staff has any concerns please do not suffer in silence – speak to
your UCU rep as soon as possible for confidential advice and support.
Finally:-
The TUC have called for a mass demonstration in London on 20th
October. This promises to be as big if not bigger than the March for the
Alternative on 26th March and will send a firm message to the
Government that we are not prepared to see them dismantle our public services.
It is important that as many Trade Unionists (and non-trade unionists) attend
as possible. There will be local transport arranged.
