The University and the Campus Trade Unions have now reached final agreement and signed the Collective Agreement on Harmonisation of Terms and Conditions of Employment.
Signing of the Collective Agreement follows an extensive period of consultation between the University and the Campus Trade Unions. Thank you to all of those involved in this significant piece of work, including staff who provided feedback earlier on in the process, as well as those who contributed to the workshop, held in November 2023, from which many of the proposals now contained in the Agreement arose.
The FAQ attached below have been developed to provide you further detail, including the key changes and when each are effective from.
As part of the Agreement with regard to annual leave entitlement, staff in Grades 1-4 have been given 2 additional day’s leave, to be used in the remainder of the 2023/24 leave year. This applies from June 2024. Taking this into account, the Agreement also includes changes to the public holiday payments for the remaining public holidays in the 2023/24 leave year. Enhanced payments will not apply to these, therefore, if staff are required to work on the July and/or September public holidays, they will be paid at plain time and will be able to take a day’s leave at another time in the 2023/24 leave year.
35-hour week
Consideration was given to introducing a 35-hour week for all grades, with considerable discussion undertaken with Schools and Directorates to establish the impact that this would have. This also considered the feedback that was submitted by staff which showed strong support for the idea of a 35-hour week but highlighted key challenges, including workload and how reducing the working week would impact on this. Following discussion, and in the context of the financial challenges facing the University, it was agreed that consideration of introducing a 35-hour week be paused. There remains, however, a firm commitment to reconsidering this, subject to affordability and once the outcomes of national discussions about the pay spine are known, as well as focused consideration has been given by the University to the areas of efficiency, productivity and workload.
Staff with any questions about the Agreement, can contact their HR Partner, email reward@abdn.ac.uk or contact their trade union representative.