IN FROM THE COLD
- fair play for part-timers

‘In from the cold’ is NATFHE’s new campaign to highlight and improve the pay and conditions of hourly-paid* academic staff in higher education. We want to make sure hourly-paid staff gain the maximum benefit from recent changes in the law and from the new national pay Framework Agreement - obtaining correct grading and the chance to move to permanent fractional contracts.

It’s also for the benefit of every student. Hourly-paid staff do an excellent job, but we know that many feel they could improve the student experience if they at least had the rewards and resources which permanent colleagues have.

Over 40% of teaching staff are on hourly-paid contracts, though most universities do not know how many they employ because appointments are often done on an informal, who-you-know basis: the source of much discrimination and unfairness.

Many hourly-paid staff experience poverty pay, job insecurity, discrimination, poor working conditions – often not even having a desk or e-mail address - and feel isolated and vulnerable. We know of many astonishing and disgraceful experiences (see our Case studies document), but we are also helping to put this right.

*Note: NATFHE uses the term hourly paid lecturer (HPL) to refer to staff also described as part-time, ‘visiting lecturer’, ‘associate lecturer’ or hourly paid researchers.

NATFHE aims to build pressure for change

By contacting hourly paid staff, researching their pay and conditions and listening to their experiences, bringing them together in e-mail networks, seminars and union branches, NATFHE is:

• assembling evidence - for use in the media and when negotiating with employers and lobbying MPs and the government
• developing support -  linking hourly-paid staff with each other and with their local colleagues and the national union
• building momentum – a campaign is growing, building on new laws and rights for the hourly paid, and new negotiating opportunities.

See The Case for Change, a report on the NATFHE national seminar on hourly-paid lecturers held on October 26 2005 at NATFHE head office.

NATFHE has already:

• commissioned a report, Hiring lecturers by the hour - the case for change in higher education (download PDF file), which provides extensive evidence of the mistreatment of hourly paid staff and the damage this form of employment is doing to staff, students and higher education
• recorded the authentic voice of many hourly paid lecturers’ case studies
• negotiated significant improvements in the national pay agreement
• successfully pushed a number of major institutions to transfer all or large numbers of hourly paid staff into permanent fractional contracts, giving improved job security, pay, terms and conditions
  brought hourly paid NATFHE members together in a national seminar
• increased the number of HPLs joining NATFHE – and increased the union’s support for them, helping them to organise together. Does your branch have an hourly paid staff rep yet?

Come in from the cold – join the campaign

Join the hourly paid lecturers’ network to be put in touch with other HPLs, and receive bulletins and advice. Email [email protected].

Contact your NATFHE branch and find out how your NATFHE negotiators are demanding improvements in hourly paid conditions.

Use the new Hourly-Paid Lecturers' bulletin board to exchange views, news and successes. Your anonymity is protected if you wish. We are keen to hear:

• success stories where staff have been transferred onto permanent fractional contracts
• examples of good practice in facilities and support for hourly paid staff – especially where there is a formal agreement with a local employer
• success stories around grading following the Framework Agreement
• examples of how hourly paid staff campaigns – however small – have been run, and hourly paid staff recruited to the union
• questions to clarify contractual rights

To join this bulletin board e-mail Sharon Russell.

If you are not already a member of NATFHE, join now - come in from the cold and support your colleagues and their efforts to support you. Subscriptions reflect your financial circumstances.

Tell your HPL colleagues about the campaign - send them the leaflet (PDF file)  or the web address to this page.