Unrest about temporary contracts at Leiden University
Unrest has arisen at Leiden University about the temporary contracts of lecturers with teaching duties. Employees of the International Studies program have already sent several letters of fire and started a petition. The university council is also critical.
Picture: Type tank
At the beginning of April, employees of international studies wrote an urgent letter to the Executive Board. They are concerned about job insecurity and temporary contracts for teachers who only teach. They call on the board to employ these people on a permanent basis. Now the teachers are disappearing with their experience and those who stay behind have to train new people again and again, which increases the workload. In the letter of fire they demand stable jobs with career prospects.
Teaching and research
The end of June responded the university board on the letter and informed that action is being taken. The board pointed to figures that according to them show a decrease in temporary contracts: in 2015 this was 35,1 percent to 22,6 percent in 2019. The university has announced through a spokesperson that the link between education and research is a starting point for to offer a permanent contract. However, the university is focusing more on long-term temporary contracts for lecturers. Agreements have been made about this with faculties. According to the spokesperson, in 2019 a quarter of the teachers who only teach were permanent employees at the university.
AObsector manager Donald Pechler says that the union is committed to the petition of the employees. “In this study there is a great need for teachers who only teach and that need is structural. We believe that you should hire those people. If you don't, you throw away the quality that has been built up and as a university you have the task of providing good education. Our spearhead is always to reduce the number of temporary contracts. ”
If the need for teachers who only teach is structural, you have to hire those people. If you don't do that, you throw away the accumulated quality
'Revolving doors'
The university council has the same spearhead, says member and assistant professor Bart van der Steen. "We insist on fewer temporary contracts." In addition, the council has been working on revolving door contracts for some time (employees who are fired and then return to the same position after six months without getting a permanent contract). To some extent this is also the case with international studies, although it is above all a larger problem that occurs in several places within the university. Van der Steen: “We have asked the board several times to count exactly how many people are involved.”
University Council: 'We insist on fewer temporary contracts'
Marat Markert, member of the university council, says that the board recently came up with figures on specifically revolving door contracts. “We received a list from HRM stating that 56 files from 2018 and 2019 were examined. Of these, 26 were labeled as a 'revolving door construction' in which people have multiple employment contracts. So it is on the retina now, but we are especially curious what the policy for the future will look like and how this can be prevented. ”
Good employment practices
The university says that the use of revolving door contracts is not in line with 'good employment practices'. 'Such constructions are undesirable within the university. We are looking at whether and to what extent this practice is involved, 'said the spokesperson. 'We make agreements with the faculty boards to correct existing situations.'
Revolving door contracts are undesirable within the university
The local consultation of the university, which negotiates the terms of employment with the board, is also working on this subject. Nicole van Os, member of the local consultation: “The international studies story sometimes also involves revolving door constructions, but it is broader than just that training. We have indicated this to the board before, but there is more to temporary contracts and it is more complex than it seems at first sight. We first want to make a good inventory of this before we can and want to discuss it at the local consultation table. The board knows about that too. ”
