Four UvA Works Councils have too few candidates for elections
As in previous years, the candidate count for the Works Council elections is worryingly low. On Monday afternoon, the UvA’s central election committee finalized the electoral lists. Elections cannot take place at three faculties or the central units due to a lack of candidates.
Elections for the triennial Works Council elections are possible at only three faculties and Amsterdam University College this year. At the other faculties and central units (Central Works Council or COR), either fewer or the same number of candidates applied for the number of seats, so everyone will be automatically appointed.
At the Faculty of Law (FdR), the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), and the Dental School ACTA, 10 candidates applied for 11 seats. In the COR, 15 candidates filled all seats. Across the UvA, the number of candidates for Works Councils did increase slightly compared to 2021: from 117 to 127 in total.
At faculties where the unions FNV and AOb are active, elections may take place. At the Faculty of Society and Behavior (FMG), for example, there are traditionally many candidates: 30 candidates for 15 seats. Democracy also reigns supreme at the Faculty of Science with the highest number of participants in years: 25 candidates for 15 seats.
Employees of Amsterdam University College (AUC) can participate in the elections for the first time with 11 candidates for 5 seats. The AUC component committee has existed since 2018 but previously did not attract more candidates than the number of seats. Before 2018, AUC employees were represented in the STEM Faculty Works Council. Janna Schoenberger, lecturer and Works Council member at AUC, is pleased with the outcome. “We want our employees to be involved in decisions made about their work.” As with other faculty, AUC’s council actively approached candidates. “That went better now than during COVID three years ago. I think that because AUC is so small, with about 50 of us academics, employees feel more involved in the policies.”
PhD list
Three faculties have a PhD list for the first time, namely FGw, FEB, and FNWI. For now, these lists have one candidate. More PhD candidates stood for election, but this was for other parties so they do not necessarily appear on the separate PhD list.
“We had not counted on having elections this year,” says Candida Leone, Works Council member and Associate Professor of Private Law at the UvA. At the Law School, up until recently, the Works Council consisted of seven members. Since the 2021 elections, two members retired, one left the UvA, and one passed away.
Leone says: “Because our ranks were so thin, we are pleased that three young candidates have applied, two of whom are from Politics, Psychology, Law, and Economics (PPLE), a program not previously represented on the Council.
Maagdenhuis
Leone finds it hard to explain why enthusiasm for the Works Council at the Law School has been low for years. “In 2015 there was more enthusiasm for the Works Council because of the Maagdenhuis occupation, but that has since subsided. We see that everyone is busy and finds it difficult to ask managers for ‘time off’ for the Works Council. I don’t think that sends a healthy message. People also doubt whether there is any recognition to be gained for their work in the Works Council.”
Roger Pruppers, a lecturer in Marketing and Works Council member at FEB, also sees this. “Every time we have to scramble to fill the list. The workload is high. We hear from researchers that although there is an allowance of 0.2 FTE for Works Council duties, the Works Council gets in the way of their research because the Council work continues throughout the year. Instead, researchers bundle their teaching engagements so they can focus entirely on research during certain periods, which is what they are ultimately judged on. The faculty board supports the Works Council; that’s not the point.
Internationalization
Internationalization also plays a role, continues Pruppers. “The FEB has an international faculty, and our foreign employees are often a little less aware of what co-determination is.” However, that doesn’t explain everything, according to Leone. “When I started on the Works Council at the Law School three years ago, the composition was half international and half Dutch. Also when you look at other faculties, it does not hold that strong internationalisation prevents OR participation.”
At AUC everything is in English and the language barrier no longer plays a role. Janna Schoenberger says: “During the last Works Council elections, I fought to have everything translated into English. We have a lot of employees from abroad who initially know nothing about employee participation but are open to it. You can see that in the number of colleagues who applied for the component committee.”
According to Pruppers, the good news is that there is only one empty seat at FEB and all sections of the university are represented in the Council: researchers, lecturers, support staff, and now also one PhD student. Says Pruppers: “But you’d want there to be someone to elect in early April, just for the sake of the democratic process.”
This year’s Works Council elections will take place from April 8th to April 12th, 2024
