Thread by @BhamUniUnison

This year VC David Eastwood will be receiving an incentive bonus of £80,000 on top of his salary of £444,0000 (he also earns £90,000 for being chair of the #USS). He lives in a mansion owned by the uni (& pays no rent!), uses a University-owned Jaguar and is driven by a chauffeur

Worth noting is that when the bonus was set in 2015/2016, he was sitting on his own remuneration committee.

Photo 1 from the 2017/2018 accounts - it includes information regarding his bonus.
Photos 2 & 3 are from 2015/2016 & 2016/2017 - they include info re Remuneration cttee.

Meanwhile, staff at @EdgbastonPark Hotel (company set up and owned by UoB) have had a pay rise of 1p/hour, so their salaries match the new Minimum Wage rate (£8.21).

The Hotel are refusing to seek #LivingWage Accreditation and to recognise unions for new staff.
#unionbusters

At UoB, management have agreed to match the Living Wage rate for 1 year (but they’re not committing to Accredit!) so at the moment the minimum uob staff are paid is £9/hour vs £8.21/hour at the Hotel.

N.b. UoB managers sit on the Hotel’s board..

Please sign this petition to end outsoucing and to bring Edgbaston Park hotel staff in-house. Universities shouldn’t be trying to create two-tier workforces and make profit on this basis! change.org/p/david-eastwo…
#weareuob #wearetheuniversity #birmingham #highereducation

We wonder if setting up a campus in a country where unions are illegal (UAE), not seeking Living Wage Accreditation, outsourcing UoB staff and services and splitting staff as well as their power to take collective action, unnecessarily refurbishing the campus (‘the Green Heart’).

Refusing to invest in adequate services for student counselling services, increasing casualisation for teaching staff (and the list can go on and on) are part of his targets for the bonus. Who knows..?

Finally, we’ll be holding a strike ballot over pay, equality, and working conditions soon (starting on 15th May). Read more here uobunison.org.uk/dispute
We’d appreciate any support anyone can offer!
#Highereducation #wearetheuniversity #hellobrum #birmingham

To add a few more points:
Our @BirminghamUCU friends found out that he is a director & shareholder of INTO University Partnerships, a private company that makes profit from recruiting international students for UK & US Universities #ussstrikes #wearetheuniversity #highereducation

We all believe that this represents a conflict of interest. Unfortunately, the University Council are refusing to investigate this matter.

You can find more information about this here: birminghamucu.org/2018/03/13/res… #hellobrum #highereducation

Unions are not allowed to sit on the highest decision-making bodies of the University: University Council and University Senate. While there are a few elected positions for Senate (one per College), only academic staff are eligible to run for them.

Support staff can’t even vote for their College reps!
The fact that none of the unions have access to information regarding decisions made during Council & Senate meetings means that we are often informed about significant decisions only at the last minute. #wearetheuniversity

We can give you two examples (to keep the thread short):
1. We found out about the decision to set up the campus in Dubai only when the University made the announcement to all staff! Since then, they’re refused to meaningfully engage with us. More info: uobunison.org.uk/?s=Dubai

2. We were told about the decision to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary company (to outsource hospitality staff) exactly 60 days before they set it up! That’s the length of the consultation period. Later the Hotel said that they’re not recognising unions for new staff.

This academic year, the trade unions on campus submitted a jointly written report (approved by members) with matters (presented as demands) that, if addressed, would significantly improve working conditions, equality & pay at UoB. It‘s v detailed and it offers precise solutions.

We recommend that other branches read it and try to do the same for their own campuses uobunison.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

We held an all-unions joint negotiating meeting with management (which rarely happens as they try to keep support staff unions separate from UCU) to discuss the demands in the report, but they refused to make any concessions and merely dismissed it as a ‘shopping list’.

In line with our agreements, a follow-up negotiating meeting was called but senior management refused to meet with us together again. In fact, they even pretended that the November meeting didn’t happen (they’re saying it wasn’t a negotiating meeting, which isn’t true).

Final tweet (we think!):
We also know (& we appreciate @acupunctureUSS’s thorough methodology, calculations & analysis) that Prof Sir Eastwood can buy all the #beetroot in #Birmingham and destroy its pension. Check out the thread below:

https://twitter.com/acupunctureuss/status/978669337140715520?s=21

#ussstrikes

Cc @David_Batty @GdnUniversities @GuardianEdu @BBCNews @bbceducation @Independent @timeshighered @redbrickpaper @TheTab @birmingham_live @birminghampost @UKLabour @AngelaRayner @DavePrentis @unisontweets @PreetKGillMP