Newsletter June -24
We are now approaching the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. From the local Saco-S association at the Linnaeus University, we would like to wish all members a really nice and well-deserved holiday. Before that, however, we would like to give brief information about the work we have carried out within the Saco-S association during the spring.
In the latter part of May, the Saco-S association held a members' meeting in hybrid form, mainly aimed at teachers, which dealt with questions about working hours, duty plans and Retendo. When the meeting was finished, we sent out pictures from the presentation that was carried out at the meeting, which resulted in a number of views from members that we have gratefully received. At the meeting, issues concerning these points were addressed; a high workload related to working time agreements and annual working hours, a local dispute negotiation about violations of the local working time agreement and the outcome thereof, a presentation of the employer's proposal for revision of the local working time agreement for teachers (mainly proposals for new wording regarding presence at the workplace). The dispute negotiation that the union parties submitted to the employer concerned a breach of the existing working time agreement - no demand for a revised agreement. Via the link below, you can access pictures from the presentation at the members' meeting (in Swedish):
Working hours, duty schedules and Retendo
During the spring, we have held a number of meetings that we have named "Coffee with the Union" when representatives have visited staff rooms outside the faculties and central administration to listen to questions and concerns that were important to members and to reason about how we can think and what we can do around these. Several views have been received regarding working time agreements for both teaching and TA staff as well as salaries, time spent at the work spaces, etc.
At the beginning of the autumn, we are planning a meeting aimed at TA staff, where we intend to focus partly on the business analysis that is underway, and partly on how the application of the working time agreement for TA staff and principles for working at home. More information about this meeting will come after the summer. We are already gratefully accepting input on these issues - and even if there is any other issue or topic that there is a desire to address.
During the spring, we also worked on a salary survey, where salary differences between women and men should be in focus. The work is to be seen as part of the institution's salary structure, which the employer must implement annually. In this work, the employer and the trade unions have had the support of an investigator at the university, which has resulted in the work being more elaborate this time than before. Unfortunately, however, that work is not yet finished. In our opinion, it should be stated more clearly which measures should be carried out before the 2024 salary survey.
We have also carried out collective negotiations regarding salaries where members have disagreed with the salary-setting manager. This means that RALS 2023 is now over for these members as well. The protocol has recently been signed and the affected members will receive their new salaries retroactively in June. We have updated the Saco-S association's page on SALARY, where you can, among other things, take a look at appendices 2 and 3 from the aforementioned protocol (which partly contain measures that the parties agree should/need to be developed in the upcoming salary revision, partly such as Saco-S association believes that improvements need to be made regarding salary setting - but where the employer does not have the same opinion), but also an agreement between the Saco-S association and the employer, which aims to regulate the salary setting process in terms of forms and time frames. Via the link below you reach this page:
Unfortunately, the trade union parties that conclude agreements for doctoral students and amanuensis (Saco-S and OFR/S) have not yet reached an agreement with the employer, because we as trade union parties find it difficult to understand that the employer does not offer increased salaries for doctoral students on par with the average for other members of Saco-S and OFR/S.
If you have questions and concerns in connection with salary and salary setting, you are welcome to contact someone in the Saco-S association's negotiation delegation, which consists of Karina Petersson (karina.petersson@lnu.se), Gunilla Gunnarsson (gunilla.gunnarsson@lnu.se) and Jan Andersson (jan.andersson@lnu.se).
Also during this year, the Saco-S association has raised questions related to what we perceive as shortcomings in the employer's way of leading and managing its organization. The employer has chosen to establish section managers and deputy office managers, often without these managers' mandates being regulated in a delegation order. From our starting points, it is important that you as a member know who is the manager and with what mandate she/he can act. Several of the new management positions that have been established have been made during ongoing operational analyzes within joint administration and faculty offices. In our opinion, it would have been reasonable to carry out the aforementioned operational analyses before changes are made to the management structure and new management levels in the organization are established.
The results of the latest work environment survey show, as before, that the workload is perceived as high at the university in the majority of departments and also in some additional units. In addition, our view is that the results also show that the distance between the top management and those who work operatively is perceived as large. Given that a work environment survey will not be carried out this autumn, we see it as particularly important that the results that came out in the latest work environment survey are taken care of in action plans and in the development of the work environment work carried out in the faculties and departments.
Financial difficulties at some other universities have meant that the employer has negotiated a labor shortage because the resources there are not enough. Even at our university, we feel that we have had more cases of work shortage situations. Unfortunately, there are also uncertainties in the allocation of funds for higher education that affect the work ahead of how next year's budget will affect the activities conducted at our university, which risks having an impact. As regards issues related to workload and working conditions, the proposal for the operational plan and budget signals a risk of reduced resources. We understand that this may affect the university’s activities, but at the same time want to emphasize that it is important to thoroughly analyze the operations before changes are made. In the case of previous changes, we have seen that the financial outcome for the university has almost always been better than budgeted - so from the trade union side we express a concern that any savings in future budget proposals risk being greater than necessary, with an even greater workload as a result.
The university management also has ongoing work with an educational strategy, where information about the first part has recently been shared with the university board. In the proposal, among other things, ideas are highlighted about reduce the number of educations (courses and programs) by 15% while maintaining the number of students, that more courses and programs should be campus-based and that a larger proportion of the education should be carried out in Kalmar. Questions about workload and working conditions seem relevant to ask here as well.
The operational plan and budget that has recently been informed to the university board includes current operational objectives, but questions need to be asked about revised operational objectives for the years 2026-2030. At central level, the parties (the Employers' Authority and Saco-S) work together on issues of sustainable working life. From Saco-S's side, we have initiated this type of discussion at our university as well. Furthermore, we feel that the university directs the operations through control and multiple levels of management, while at several other government agencies instead they highlight and emphasize a more trust-based management and control, including greater elements of collegial working methods.
Together with other trade unions, the Saco-S association has participated in managerial recruitment, mainly through interviews with relevant candidates. We have also had conversations with heads of departments and deans who are being reassigned to gain insight into how they have worked so far and how they view their assignments during another term of office. As usual, the Saco-S association, together with other trade unions during the spring, also participated in consultations with the various faculties and in weekly MBL negotiations.
In the autumn of 2024, we in the Saco-S association plan to hold some member meetings, partly to enable our members to be able to participate in a digital lecture series on current trade union issues which is carried out centrally by SULF and takes place at lunchtime. Below is a program with links to these meetings:
3 september (Tid: 12.00-13.00).
4 september (Time: 12.00-13.00).
18 september (Tid: 12.00-13.45).
15 oktober (Time: 12.00-13.30).
7 november (Time: 12.00-14.00).
Within the Saco-S association, a number of working groups within the board were established in the autumn to better distribute tasks. So far, our view is that it has contributed to a clearer focus and more effective work in various union-related areas. The following working groups were then established:
- Working group salary and salary mapping: Karina Petersson (convener), Gunilla Gunnarsson, Sofie Tornhill, Jan Andersson and Stefan Lindkvist Gómez.
- Working group working time agreement for teachers: Eva Pohl (convener), Jan Andersson, Magnus Mårtensson and Karina Petersson
- Working group working time agreement for TA staff: Stefan Lindkvist Gómez (convener), Jan Andersson and Nina Andersson Junkka
- Working group member activities/member recruitment: Gunilla Gunnarsson (convener), Nina Andersson Junkka, Anders Nordborg, Jan Andersson and Magnus Mårtensson
As before, the Saco-S association has also on several occasions during the spring both met groups of members and represented individual members in various trade union matters. If you want support in any trade union issue in any context or have questions and concerns, you are always welcome to contact us. Via the link below you can reach contact details and division of responsibilities within the board.
Saco-S consists of 18 trade unions, of which we at the university have members in 15 of these. Regarding the local activities within these associations, we have developed the Saco-S association's website so that their contact persons and activities can become better known. As far as we know, currently only SULF has activities at the university.
Contact person and also chairman of the newly formed board for SULF's local association at the university is Maria Bergström (maria.bergstrom@lnu.se) who is a teacher at the Department of Chemistry and Biomedicine in Kalmar. If there are additional contact persons for other trade unions within Saco-S at the university, we gratefully receive information about them and make sure to update our website with it.
If you have questions you want to raise with us or if you want to join and work in a trade union on the board of the Saco-S association or as a safety representative - then contact one of us on the board.
We gratefully accept suggestions and opinions on what Saco-S can/should work on further.
With this, we wish that all of us, after responsible and intensive work, can enjoy and relax properly during the upcoming leave. Have a really nice and relaxing summer!
Jan Andersson and Gunilla Gunnarsson - and the rest of the board of the Saco-S association at Linnaeus University
PS. During the holidays, you can contact either SULF's member advice (https://sulf.se/om-sulf/kontakta-oss/) or us by emailing Jan Andersson (jan.andersson@lnu.se) or Gunilla Gunnarsson (gunilla. gunnarsson@lnu.se). We check the email at regular intervals - but not daily.
Updated: 2024-06-17