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Joint Negotiating Committee terms of reference
Negotiation procedures for support staff and staff in the academic job families
1 Introduction
1.1 In the following agreement:
- Council means the Council of the University of Exeter;
- Trade Unions means the University of Exeter branches of Unison, Unite and the University and College Union;
- JNC means the Joint Negotiation Committee;
- Principals means the University of Exeter branches of Unison, Unite and the University and College Union and Council;
- Sides means the members of the JNC nominated by the principals;
- Negotiation means engaging in dialogue with a view to reaching agreement;
- Staff in the academic job families means staff employed in the Education and Research job family, Education and Scholarship job family and Research job family;
- Support staff means staff not employed in one of the academic job families.
1.2 The University of Exeter recognises the University and College Union as having sole negotiating rights for staff in the academic job families.
1.3 The University of Exeter recognises Unison, Unite and the University and College Union as having sole negotiating rights for support staff.
2 Terms of Reference
2.1 To act as the appropriate body for negotiation on terms and conditions of service for staff.
2.2 To provide a formal means of resolving collective disputes where informal channels have proved unsuccessful or ineffective.
2.3 Individual cases shall be dealt with through the established procedures and shall be considered by the JNC only when there are matters of general principle raised by them which need to be negotiated.
3 Membership
3.1 A lay member of Council acceptable to both sides shall be appointed as the non-voting Chair.
3.2 The Vice-Chancellor, a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar & Secretary and the member of Council who is the lay lead for Human Resources will represent the University.
3.3 There will be two representatives of each of the trade unions.
3.4 Two members from each side shall constitute a quorum.
3.5 The University will provide secretarial support to the Committee.
3.6 With the consent of the Chair and of both sides of the Committee, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, advisers who are not members may attend and participate in meetings.
4 Procedure and Frequency of Meetings
4.1 Minor amendments to terms and conditions of service may be agreed by the principals out of committee. Such agreements will be recorded in writing and be reported to Council. If agreement cannot be reached, the matter shall be dealt with by the JNC. Major changes shall be dealt with by the JNC.
4.2 The JNC will only meet where informal discussions have failed to bring about resolution of a problem or when formal ratification of a change to Terms and Conditions is required. Consequently, meetings will not be scheduled in advance but a JNC will be convened within 28 days of either side giving notice of a request for a meeting to the Secretary of the Committee.
4.3 Meetings will be held at the request of either side within 28 days. Meetings may be adjourned by agreement for not longer than fourteen days. During a meeting either side may withdraw to consult separately.
5 Minutes
5.1 The minutes of all meetings, shall be agreed on behalf of both sides and by the Chair before circulation; or a note recording disagreement shall be included.
5.2 On each item negotiated upon, the minutes shall either record an agreement by both sides (including the date when the agreement will take effect) or a failure to agree, including any recommendations for the resolution of such disagreement.
5.3 The JNC will report to Council.
6 Resolution of Disagreements
6.1 Both principals undertake not to engage in any industrial action in furtherance of a local dispute before the procedures in this section have been exhausted.
6.2 A collective dispute may arise as a result of the JNC recording a failure to agree or by direct reference either from the management of the University or the accredited representative of the trade unions. A principal shall give formal written notice to other principal of any collective dispute declared.
6.3 Stage 1: The collective dispute shall be referred to a meeting of JNC held within the due notice period unless it has arisen as consequence of a previous meeting of the JNC formally recording a failure to agree. If resolution is not reached within the JNC, either side may refer the matter to the procedure in stage 2 below.
6.4 Stage 2: The meeting under stage 2 shall be chaired by the Chair of Council or their representative. The meeting will consist of two members of Council plus the Vice Chancellor and two representatives of the trade unions plus a full-time official or other external trade union representative. This meeting will take place as soon as practicable after the failure to reach a resolution in Stage 1.
6.5 It is hoped that all disputes will be capable of resolution by the implementation of the procedures outlined above. However there may be some disputes where this is not achieved. In these circumstances, both sides agree to refer the dispute to national representative bodies to assist in resolving the dispute. If a dispute cannot be resolved by this procedure each side locally should consider reference to ACAS or other third party for conciliation. The conciliator will be agreed by the parties. The costs of the conciliator will be met by the University.
6.6 Where a failure to agree is recorded, the previously agreed term or condition of service shall prevail until the procedures in this section have been exhausted.
6.7 Nothing in the procedures this section is intended to prevent their variation by agreement between the University and trade unions in the course of dealing with a particular dispute.
7 Consideration of matters solely relating to staff in the academic job families
7.1 From time-to-time, issues will arise for consideration by the JNC that affect only staff in the academic job families. On these occasions a meeting of the JNC will be held where the trade union side membership will comprise exclusively of representatives of the University and College Union. (The remaining membership will be as detailed in section 3 above.)
7.2 Representatives of Unite and Unison will receive notification of the meeting and the minutes. With the consent of the Chair and of both sides of the Committee, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, representatives of Unite and Unison may attend such meetings.
