Contract wrangles

The plight of academic staff hired on short-term contracts, who often have little chance of eventually acquiring a permanent job, is long-standing. Many therefore welcomed the EU's efforts to introduce regulations which obliged employers to offer permanent jobs to most staff after the successful completion of a period of casual contracts. But fears are growing that universities may lay off academics on casual contracts rather than give them permanent jobs to which they are entitled under the European regulations. European universities have until 2006 to comply with the regulations, which should improve job security for thousands of academics on fixed-term contracts, including disproportionately more women and people from ethnic minorities. But part of the problem emerged as Britain's Association of University Teachers (AUT), launched a campaign this autumn to alert universities to the regulations and their responsibilities in ending the present use of fixed-term contracts. Jane Thompson, the AUT's policy officer, said: " Universities are not doing enough to prepare for this legislation, and there is certainly a fear among casual workers that they will be made permanently redundant rather than permanent. " She said that any university making staff redundant in this way was in breach of the regulations, which have a 'no detriment' clause. The fixed-term employees regulations came into force in 2002. They state that after four years on two or more contracts, a fixed-term contract will automatically become permanent — unless the fixed-term element can be 'objectively justified'. The AUT campaign, known as Security Alert II, has been launched halfway through the period of notice that universities have to implement the regulations, which expires in July 2006. In all, 48 per cent of female academics and 38 per cent of male academics are on fixed-term contracts, according to the AUT. The situation amongst research staff is more dramatic: nine out of ten researchers in UK universities are employed on short-term contracts and, two years after the introduction of the regulations, 93 per cent of university researchers are still employed on contracts of three years or less. Sally Hunt, AUT general secretary, said: " The continuing use of fixed-term contracts is a hidden scandal in higher education. " It is about time universities woke up to their responsibilities. The government changed the law to stop this abuse two years ago, and the universities themselves signed an agreement to reduce the use of fixed-term contracts. " And two …