First published: 16 March 13:40

Dear Strathclyde UCU Colleagues

For links to updates/resources, please see this regularly updated post on the Strathclyde UCU website.

An email to all branch members was sent Monday 16th March at 10:37 sharing the message the Strathclyde UCU Committee has sent to University Management. A copy of that message is included below:

From Strathclyde University College Union to University of Strathclyde Management
STATEMENT Regarding COVID-19 and suspension of Face to Face teaching
Monday 16th March 2020 10.00 am

We are confronted with an unprecedented health crisis that will require us all to adapt to new circumstances and take extraordinary actions in order to best safeguard the University of Strathclyde community.  

As of this Sunday, 15th March 2020, the University of Strathclyde has announced a suspension of all face to face teaching.  However, the University itself will not be closed, with libraries, office space, sport facilities, welfare and support services remaining open.  This carries a degree of risk to staff and students who continue to use the campus, and little clarification has been offered in relation to student support services, and how they ought to operate. 

Strathclyde UCU makes the following statement, which it hopes will help bring clarity, and deliver positive outcomes for all.

Recommended closure of the university

We note that the number of confirmed cases in the UK and within Scotland is rising rapidly, and according to the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51896052), the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area is the most affected area in Scotland with 39 cases as of 15th March. Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman stated that stricter viral control measures could be implemented within days. Such measures already include social distancing and avoiding close contact. NHS guidance on coronavirus defines “close contact” as being within two metres of an infected person for more than 15 minutes and social distancing will make a contribution to limiting viral spread. It is difficult to reconcile such protective social distancing with commuting by public transport and holding meetings on campus.

It would seem apposite to follow the example of other Universities and close the campus immediately and take the adequate time required to make the professional adjustments in the interests of students and staff.

All staff, as per law, [1] are entitled to remove themselves to a place of safety if they have a reasonable concern about risk to their health and safety.  UCU insists that all staff, therefore should have the opportunity to work from home, and also have the right to vary their working hours. While communication with line managers is of course important, permission is not required for an employee to remove himself or herself to a place of safety.

Staff employed in libraries, office space, sport facilities, welfare, professional and support services should be immediately informed that the university recognises their right to remove themselves from risk and work from home.

In order to be proactive regarding health risks in a large and globally connected university, staff must be allowed to self-isolate immediately beginning 16 March 2020, based on their own health conditions and personal risks (including housing elderly relatives, etc.). Given the burdens expected on testing, and ultimately the reluctance for testing in the UK (as of 15th March 2020) there can be no expectation that official test results be obtained prior to self-isolation.

If any group learning is considered too risky, it should all be considered too risky. If it is not safe for students to come to campus, it is not safe for staff to come to campus.  This branch therefore calls on the University to close all buildings immediately.

We request that the university agrees that that any staff members who needs to self-isolate remains on full pay, and that this is agreed as “special leave”, and not sickness absence. Where possible, staff may be able to work from home, however, where roles do not allow homeworking staff should remain on full pay.

Ongoing industrial action

We recognise the particular duty of care towards our students. This includes caring for their health, and providing safe and effective learning environments. We recognise the need to set aside the time to effectively plan and organise an effective course through this pandemic.

The above requires co-operation of staff, many of whom are returning from strike action and are being asked to show collegiate goodwill despite the university refusing to offer a reasonable improvement in pay and despite the issues of the dispute still outstanding.  Members of staff are still working to contract but are being asked to make serious adjustments with less than 24 hours notice.  We ask that the university recognises that UCU has also postponed reballoting for further industrial action in recognition of the critical issues now at stake.  In this changed climate Strathclyde UCU requests that the Principal urges the employers to find an immediate resolution of the disputes and, importantly, given the issues above, considers that it will not deduct the wages of those who are returning from strike action in February and March and who are responding positively to the new workplace challenges.

Changing to online learning

We all recognise the particular expertise of our colleagues who teach primarily online. Online teaching is a specialised pedagogical method that requires training and bespoke practices, materials and equipment. There can be no expectation that staff who do not teach primarily online already will close this gap effectively within the time constraints we face. To claim to do so is a disservice to students. This will require sensitivity from management when issuing instructions and guidelines, particularly with regard to workloads in conditions of high stress and health risk.

 Colleagues and students cannot be expected to possess access to personal technology or internet facilities and there are a range of factors that will mean access to this form of learning is not equitable for students and staff. It is not at all certain that staff will be able to provide a forum for such activities. This needs to be taken into account in any plans proposed. Costs involved in creating such home-working facilities such as additional home insurance for business working, maintenance costs for any university equipment, heating and electricity costs,  stationery costs, workstation furniture which enables compliance with Health and Safety recommendations and broadband connection costs should paid for by the University. On-line training in carrying out a workplace risk assessment should also be provided if potential musculo-skeletal injuries are to be avoided.

UCU has previously advised staff not to waive their rights by agreeing to lecture capture technology because of the unresolved issues around intellectual property and performance rights. Suggestions to support colleagues with new IT based systems is welcomed but must not undermine or override the rights of employees.

We recognise that a sudden switch to online teaching using new systems will cause stress and anxiety to staff that crucially now need to take over a lot of care and support work for anxious students.

 In order to avoid work related mental health issues already peaking within staff and students alike, we demand that staff are supported to use existing technology they are familiar working with. Staff must not be forced to use new technologies. Training must be delivered in order to support the delivery of a high quality learning experience.

We request a memorandum of understanding between UCU and the university that agrees that any content created specifically for the crisis and made available online is ultimately created and based on a state of emergency situation and that the custom and practice delivery of learning will return thereafter. We require assurances that the material will not be used in the future to replace face to face teaching. The delivered material is not to be confused with carefully designed online teaching based on pedagogical models and imperatives. Students should made aware of this to avoid they confuse our emergency planning with good quality teaching.

Content created over the coming weeks and months must not be appropriated by third party vendors or sold to them by the University.  Those delivering teaching by electronic means must maintain Intellectual Property rights, and performance copyright, over the content. None of the material created for this emergency situation can be used during or to compromise any future industrial action.

Hourly paid staff

 Those staff who are paid on an hourly basis must not suffer financial penalties as result special measures being taken or required; we should not place people in a position of having to choose between meeting their basic financial obligations and protecting their own health and the health of others. Any hourly paid or casual staff who need to self-isolate should receive pay in line with the previous pay or the hours they were due to work.

There should be agreement in writing to each hourly-paid individual regarding extra hours of work they are being offered as a result of any COVID-related changes/extensions to courses, the pay for these hours, and what they are understood to entail. There can be no expectation that hourly-paid staff will necessarily be able to make themselves available for this added work.  No staff member or university worker should lose annual leave as a result of being unable to work at home during self-isolation or due to child caring duties arising from the Coronavirus emergency. Nor should they be expected to ‘make up the hours’ later in the year or effectively work anti-social hours. These ‘solutions’ should be removed from the guidance notes on University Leave and Pay (https://www.strath.ac.uk/coronavirus/staff/leavepay/)

Course evaluations for the term should be made optional and additional flexibility provided for any promotion, or probation-related deadlines.

 We write in solidarity with all employees of the university and ask for paid emergency leave during self-isolation for all University of Strathclyde workers, which is crucial to protect the ongoing health and wellbeing of all.  A meeting between the university and the campus unions is essential to address the issues in this statement and the many others that have been raised by staff and students in recent days.

We acknowledge the particular stresses that this situation will be causing for students at the university and trust this statement will contribute to being realistic about the disruption to learning and support the calls by student representatives for University of Strathclyde to develop enhanced student support at this juncture.

[1] The Employment Rights Act 1996 states an employee should not suffer detriment or be dismissed or made redundant for (amongst other things), “Leaving or refusing to return to a place of work in circumstances of serious and imminent danger, or taking steps to protect themselves or others in these circumstances”. As long as the employee forms a genuine view of a risk that they reasonably regard as serious and imminent, the fact that the employer disagrees with the seriousness of the risk or the appropriateness of the steps taken is irrelevant.