Friday 7 October 2005

In dispute

I've already mentioned that a sizeable group of Open University tutors disagreed with the outcome of pay negotiations but were ignored by the union, the Association of University Tutors. This dispute continues but is with the union rather than the OU!

The OUAUT represents full time staff as well as part time staff (tutors are generally part time and some full time staff are also tutors in addition to their full time OU work). For details of the latest in this saga check out www.littleworth.me.uk. It's a sorry tale of intruige and misdeeds.

7 careful considerations:

kat said...

Considering that tutors always work many more hours than they are paid for, the hourly rate for part-time tutors seems very low.
This coupled with the de-skilling mentioned is worrying from a student point of view. I think it will eventually lead to a poor service. Surely the OU should be employing people who it considers to be fully qualified and who have all the necessary skills to support students. The low rates of pay will not continue to attract people with the best skills and they will end up employing Joe Bloggs off the street.

In my experience Unions do not always support and look after part-time staff very well and I sometimes think that it stems from the fact that full time members of staff do not always fully appreciate the work,responsibilities and commitment of part timers. Can't you start up your own Union?

Nogbad said...

Sadly we can't Kat. The OU only recognise the OUAUT and I can see their point - they want to work with a union they know rather than having to deal with two or three. The main issue now is that a couple of members of the branch executive appear to be trying to sway the latest ballot which includes a motion to remove them from office. They've sent out the ballot papers and then emaled all members advising them how to vote - those who disagree don't have access to the email list of members so are unable to put across their point of view. Those who use the AL conference on FirstClass are aware of the issues but, as I'm sure you are aware, not all tutors use FC and only a very small number use that conference.

kat said...

Well it is a bit of a bugger when your own Union can't or won't look after your interest properly.

kat said...

PS

Part-time tutors in other areas of Adult Education get paid more than that.

Nogbad said...

The difficulty the union faces is, in part, related to trying to look after FT as well as PT staff. The pay offer favoured the FT staff and the exec officers tend to be based at Walton Hall. Also, of 7,800 tutors only a few were members of the union - membership has taken upswing recently though. The very nature of how we work makes it difficult to organise and also to get information to colleagues.

And I' more than aware that other sectors pay more but - as you well know - many OU tutors do the work for far more than the money.

kat said...

as you well know - many OU tutors do the work for far more than the money.

........and so do tutors in other areas. If it was for the money alone they wouldn't bother to get out of bed!

Nogbad said...

Amen to that!