| Description | Signed minutes of the committee appointed by University Council to oversee policy and procedures for the recruitment, pay and conditions, and training and welfare of University staff employed on technical, clerical, and general grades, from 24 September 1973 to 5 July 1976, and minutes and working papers of the committee covering the period between February and October 1964. The majority of the business discussed by the committee related to the employment of technical staff in the Faculties of Science and Engineering, and Medicine and Dentistry, but the committee was also responsible for administrative, clerical, secretarial and library staff not on academic-related contracts.
Evidence from the surviving minutes indicates that the committee was newly constituted in September 1973, but the committee is listed as a sub-committee of the Finance and General Purposes committee in the printed University Calendars from the 1960s, but the minutes and working papers dated 1964 are the only records that survive from this period. Similarly, minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 1976 are signed and dated November 1976, but no later records survive, though the committee continued to be listed in the printed University Calendars. Reports of the Technical, Clerical, and General Staff committee can be found in minutes of the Finance and General Purposes committee, described at UB/COM/1
Membership of the committee in 1964 consisted of the Vice-Chancellor; three members nominated by the Finance and General Purposes committee; the chairs of the Facu;lty of Science Staff committee and Faculty of Medicine Wages and Establishment committee; representatives from the Faculties and the Institute of Education; the Librarian; the Secretary; the Registrar; the Bursar; and non-professorial staff representatives
Membership of the re-constituted committee appointed in 1973 consisted of two lay members of Council; the Pro-Vice-Chancellor; academic staff from the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry and Science and Engineering; the Estates and Buildings Officer; and four members nominated by the Academic Executive. Meetings were held on a monthly basis
The committee's terms of reference in both 1964 and the 1973-1976 period were to ensure that adequate facilities were provided for the recruitment of Technical, Clerical and General Staff; to recommend scales of pay and general conditions of employment for these staff; to make recommendations for promotions and abnormal increments; to ensure adequate arrangements for training, and for social and general welfare; to appoint and brief individuals who will represent the University on outside bodies, including the Universities' Committee for Non-Teaching Staffs; to appoint and brief individuals who will negotiate on behalf of the University with Trade Unions on matters coming within the committee's terms of reference; to ensure that adequate arrangements exist for consultation with, and for the giving of assistance and advice to Heads of Department on matters concerning technical, clerical and general staff, with special reference to the interpretation of all agreements made with Trade Unions; and to report to the Finance and General Purposes committee whose approval was required for all recommendations involving expenditure not covered by current allocations in the estimates.
The committee minutes contain information relating to pay claims and settlements; recruitment and salary scales, including tables showing rates of pay for different categories of employee; re-structuring of posts; comment on salary reviews and the terms of superannuation; training for technicians; dispute negotiation and handling communications; and disciplinary and dismissal procedures. The minutes often include copies of papers and reports submitted to the committee which relate to the business under discussion. The committee minutes for the 1973 to 1976 period include copies of the Technical Clerical and General Staff Committee Information Sheets, from number 1 onwards, designed to keep heads of department in touch with the activities of the committee
There are references to industrial disputes among sections of the University staff, including a strike by computer operating staff in 1973 and a one day strike by refectory staff on degree congregation day in July 1974, and the minutes contain discussion about committee and University relations with the relevant Trade Unions. Minutes of committee meetings held in 1974 contain details about the effect of the worsening financial position of the University on staff recruitment, including discussion papers on the requirement to freeze posts and achieve economies, and information about savings made.
The impact of legislation passed in the mid 1970s is also discussed. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 1975 contain papers relating to the Equal Pay Act, which became fully operative at the end of December 1975, and the implications for the University, though the minutes state that it was already the case that there were no differential rates of pay or separate conditions of service for men and women, and the institution was perhaps more concerned about equality of opportunity in employment. A Standing Establishments sub-committee was appointed at this meeting, to determine grades for new posts. Minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 1975 include a copy of a paper on safety policy in the University, following the implementation of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Minutes of meetings held in 1975 discuss the terms governing maternity leave, and minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 1976 discuss the obligations of employers following the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and state that the committee was to send general advice to heads of departments and supervisors on the implications of the Act |