Update: Reporting process for participation in strike action
15 Feb 2023
A message from Andrew Mullen, Deputy Director of People and Organisational Development
Dear colleagues
Following my message on 10 February 2023 , UMUCU has circulated a message to members which contains some inaccuracies about the University’s arrangements and position regarding strike reporting requirements, including the legitimacy of the online form. I have addressed these below:
1. UMUCU is advising that members should not use the online form.
As I stated in my previous message, colleagues should regard that message as your employer’s request to provide information on whether you have taken strike action. This is a reasonable management instruction and is in line with ACAS and UCU’s national guidance. ACAS guidance states that “When they [employees] return to work, they should tell their employer they’ve been on strike.” UCU national guidance states: "Once you are back to work following the strike action, you should respond truthfully to any query from your employer as to whether you have taken or are taking industrial action."
2. UMUCU has suggested that the reporting deadlines stipulated are “unnecessary”, “not in fact reasonable management requests” and “emphasis on the deadlines seems to be an intimidation tactic.”
The reason for the deadlines is to allow the University to manage the appropriate deductions from salary and to monitor the impact of the action, so we can seek to plan appropriate mitigations for the benefit of our students. The reporting deadlines are, therefore, necessary and represent a reasonable management request, and we strongly refute that asking employees to report strike action within a reasonable timescale is any sense an intimidation tactic.
3. I stated in my earlier communication that: “A failure to report as requested will be treated as a potential disciplinary matter if it emerges strike action was taken, as it amounts to a failure to follow a reasonable management instruction and receiving salary for a day on which there was no entitlement to be paid.” UCU has characterised this as a threat and suggested that it is unclear how it could legitimately be considered a potential disciplinary matter.
We would have preferred not to have written in these terms but judged it important that colleagues who did not report in response to UMUCU’s advice were aware of the potential consequences. We believe a requirement to report to be a reasonable management request and would therefore treat a failure to comply accordingly.
4. UMUCU has stated that in discussions with the University it has been clear in its reasoning for objecting to the use of the form.
UMUCU has expressed concern that the University did not seek to agree the use of the online form before its implementation and has posed questions about GDPR compliance but has not raised any other specific concerns. The process is GDPR compliant whereas the previous manual methods presented far greater risks of data breaches.
5. UMUCU claims that the reporting arrangements have “recently been part of the cause of inaccurate deductions for our members.”
This is not true. We have been made aware of three instances where colleagues experienced inaccurate deductions and one was due to double reporting outside of the online reporting system. The online system presents a lower risk of inaccurate deductions.
As I stated in my message of 10 February 2023, we fully respect the right of employees to take part in legal industrial action, and we thank all employees who are co-operating with strike reporting processes.