News
04
Friday, February 26, 2010 | www.leedsstudent.org | Leeds Student
Agreement halts February strike action << Continued from page 1
and the University, it was declared that the negotiations represented “a This will outline a clear role for ground-breaking package enshrining Senate, the highest University the principles of openness, fairness, academic decision-making body, in transparency and good governance in the establishment of a review process detailed new policies and procedures for any academic area. to promote job security, avoid This comes after the UCU redundancy and manage change.” supported a member of staff from The two sides have agreed to a the FBS who claimed the University series of meetings over the next broke its own rules by failing to fortnight to review the position of consult the senate during the early staff that have already been through stages of restructuring. The UCU the matching process in FBS. called for an investigation While preparing whether the into for the proposed restructuring plans strikes, the UCU were already too made clear that advanced by the they were not time the Senate the result of had the chance their to see and campaign influence against them and cuts. The therefore Union fulfil its said the regulatory strikes duty. were due A to the disciplined apparent Students organised a sit-in in the framework for breach of University’s Parkinson building meaningful employment consultation with on Thursday Photo: Richard Smith law by the trade unions has been University, implemented, which will regarding academic remain throughout the review and freedom and trade union law. restructuring process. In previous The University was accused of negotiations the UCU had accused breaching its own regulations and the University of acting in ‘bad faith’ failing to uphold numerous statutory by bringing forward the ‘job duties, including the duty to mitigate matching process’ in FBS by over a against redundancies and duties week. This meant the process regarding equality impact finished at 9am on the day of the first assessments. meeting with ACAS, the service The emergency general meeting employed as the go-between in the comes at a time when the University dispute concerning the University and is planning to cut £35 million from its UCU, so the University could budget. In a letter of complaint to the continue to make decisions about BBC, the University confirmed that compulsory redundancies without this will lead to the loss of an any agreement under ACAS. estimated 400 jobs. In a joint statement by the UCU The negotiations between the
UCU and the University are a manifestation of a wider crisis within higher education. Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor of the University, has admitted the national cuts could be up to £2.5 billion; one third of the amount the Government currently spends annually on higher education. Arthur himself has said that the cuts will have a ‘devastating effect’ on higher education that could ‘take just six months to bring it to its knees.’ The cuts are being made in anticipation of the Government’s reduction in funding, and come at time when Leeds University is spending £380 million on building projects, £50 million of which is coming from loans offset against future tuition fees. A march took place at 12pm yesterday in protest of the cuts and proposed compulsory redundancies. Over 200 protesters marched from the Parkinson Steps to the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Building, before returning to the Parkinson Court for a series of impromptu debates. Malcolm Povey, Leeds UCU President, spoke with Leeds Student at the march, saying: “There are many more threats, but every job that’s saved in every month is a job not lost, and therefore is worth it. By defending the jobs now you’ll deflect the pressure onto the bankers bonuses, onto the waste of money on war and all the other crazy stuff that’s going on. If we make ourselves willing victims of the cuts of course they’ll cut us.” Leeds UCU president, Malcolm Povey, joined students and University staff outside of the Parkinson building to protest against cuts on Thursday
PSG punished for protests
INTERRUPTED: Ishmael Khaldi’s speech was hindered by protests. << Continued from page 1 but the Activities Executive committee decided against addressing “claims about racist comments or racial profiling, due to lack of evidence.” The committee also chose not to address the claim that security guards were physically abused, following the security team’s recommendation that is was a “non-issue”. The ban coincides with Israel Apartheid Week, an event coordinated by PSG, which includes guest speakers and film showings, and begins on March 1. Al-Ouri added: “Usually in western legal systems, you’re innocent until proven guilty, but that was not the case in our situation. “The decision was made without us being able to present
Union charity status will not effect jobs Leeds University Union (LUU) has moved to reassure staff that its change in status to a charity organisation will not have an effect on jobs. In a meeting on Wednesday employees were told that, despite being issued with new contracts, there will be no changes to their terms and conditions. However, as part of the new status, LUU will have an increased commitment to the local community and will continue to run as a non-profit organisation, with all financial profits being reinvested in to the Union. Jak Codd, LUU Communications and Internal Affairs Officer, said: “LUU becoming a charity will enable us to enhance our fundraising potential, through schemes like gift aid, allowing us to invest even more resources into clubs, societies, and facilities for our members.” LUU currently holds an unofficial charitable status, so the change to a company limited by guarantee, a non-
profit organisation without any shareholders or share capital, is concentrated on making the status an official, legal entity. The Union has already trialled the coming amendment of status on behalf of the National Union of Students (NUS). The conversion is compulsory under the 2006 Charity act and it is believed that the Union will be more efficient and transparent under the new status. The 2006 Charity act stated that student unions must register as charities by 1 June 2010 and that they will be regulated by the Charity Commission. The act was followed by a lengthy examination of student unions by lawyers to examine the consequences of its implementation. However, it seems the only real changes made by registering as charity are more independence from the University, new letterheads on letters and emails and a new charity number. Most excitingly, there will be a new plaque on the entrance to the building. There will be no change in activities and no change to staff employment. LUU will become an official charity organisation on 1 August 2010.
INTERRUPTED: Ishmael Khaldi’s speech was hindered by protests. Photo: Sarah Greene
our case. The Union, and Geoff Banks and Kay Morrison in particular were helpful, but the [Activities Executive] committee was quite unfair.” Fliss Inkpen, a member of the LUU Activities Executive, said: “The Activities Executive took this matter very seriously and examined points of view presented to us from all sides. “We decided that there was not sufficient evidence to pursue claims of racist chants or physical violence. She added: “The Activities Executive supports peaceful protest and student campaigns, but we felt that in this case the disruption caused was beyond what could be deemed reasonable. We exist to represent the interests of all societies fairly.”
Zaman arrested Providence Properties boss Tariq Zaman has been arrested and released on bail. The landlord, 41, has been stripped of his rental licence after being held on suspicion of fraud and money laundering. A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “A 41 year old Leeds man was arrested on February 2nd on suspicion of money laundering and fraud by false representation and is currently on police bail pending further enquiries.” Last year Leeds Student revealed links between Zaman’s Providence Properties and the Student Property Shop, based in Hyde Park. The Leeds University Union (LUU) Student Advice Centre is still dealing with substantial claims against Mr Tariq Zaman for unpaid deposits.