AR/4 November 2007 
university and college union
To:	Academic Related Staff Committee – to note (agenda item 5)
From:	Rachel Curley, assistant general secretary

SUBJECT:	Motions passed at the annual meeting	

The motions passed at the annual meeting are set out below for information and to inform the discussion of priorities for 2007-08 (agenda item 7). Please note that motion 3 from Birmingham was referred to the committee for further consideration

Amendment to standing orders

Motion 1 (Leicester)
This meeting notes that there is to be a further annual meeting of Academic Related staff scheduled for 5 March 2008, and requests the National Executive Committee to amend the standing orders so that the requirement to elect a committee should not apply to that meeting, and that this function be held over until the subsequent annual meeting to take place on a date agreed by the NEC prior to Annual Congress 2009.

Timing of meeting

Motion 2 (Birmingham)
This annual meeting notes that the run-up to and beginning of the academic year is a difficult time for academic-related staff to attend meetings, due to the demands of servicing the new student intake.
This meeting further notes safety issues raised by the need to travel from home in the early morning when it is still dark.
This meeting calls on the National Executive Committee to schedule future national annual meetings in late Spring term, i.e. March.

Number of representatives

Motion 3 (Birmingham)
This annual meeting calls upon the National Executive Committee to bring an appropriate rule change to Congress to enable branches/local associations to send at least three delegates to Academic-related Staff meeting to ensure that all three categories can be represented, i.e. administrative, library and computer staff.

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE

Perception of Academic-Related Staff

Motion 4 (Birmingham)
This annual meeting notes with concern the widespread perception of academic-related staff in universities as "second class citizens".
This meeting deplores the tendency by management to treat academic-related staff as though they were on inferior terms and conditions of service.
We instruct the National Academic-Related Staff Committee to liaise with the National Executive Committee to devise strategies for raising the profile and increase the understanding and appreciation of the work that academic-related staff do.

Academic team 

Motion 5 (Manchester)
This meeting notes with concern the attacks made, by a variety of institutions, on the academic team and the link between academic staff and their academic related colleagues, by amendments to institutional statutes and ordinances in order to remove protection of academic related status. This meeting further calls upon the UCU National Executive to campaign with vigour on this issue, to bring the fullest pressure to bear on Universities engaged in activities which diminish the status of academic related staff and to restore appropriate career development strategies.

Role Analysis

Motion 6 (Leeds)
This meeting calls on UCU Executive to increase its diligence and information gathering and dissemination with respect to the Role Analysis process.  Particular regard should be paid to the experience of UCU members at the University of Leeds, where this process has resulted in a huge waste of working hours, a decreasing morale (following the initial downgrading of nearly 100 Academic Related staff) and is now resulting in the systematic demotion and undervaluation of Academic Related staff and their skills, as well as inefficiencies and uncertainties in promotions and recruitment procedures. 
Leeds UC launched a “red circle” group which campaigned effectively with rallies, a national petition, letters to the national press, and passed a motion to escalate to industrial action. This led to ACAS-hosted talks between UCU and management and ultimately we won a strong of victories in removing the red circles for most of our members. We believe that HQ needs to work harder to share these experiences with all branches/LAs so that mistakes are not repeated and that successes are built on.

Forum for academic-related staff

Motion 7 (Open)
This meeting requests UCU to set up an email list or electronic forum for interested AR staff to discuss issues of common concern.

Out of hours work

Motion 8 (Open)
This meeting requests the AR staff committee to ascertain from branches the current situation regarding out of hours work and to circulate information about current best practice.