Gerwin van der Pol again chair Central Works Council UvA
Film studies lecturer Gerwin van der Pol was elected president of the Central Works Council (COR) of the UvA last Friday. There were no opposing candidates. A total of five new board members were elected.
The lacklustre election, in which only Van der Pol was a candidate for the chair, took place during the constituent meeting on 6 September of the new COR, whose members were elected for three years last April during the UvA works council elections. Besides Van der Pol, four other COR members were also elected to the COR board. They are Charlotte Hille, Estela Gonzalez, Erella Grassiani and Hege Elisabeth Kjos.
Normally, the COR board consists of four people. For the next three years, it will be five, as Grassiani and Kjos have been elected duo board members: together they occupy one board post. “Grassiani and Kjos could both already foresee that they would be absent a number of times for various reasons. Through the duo board construction, we have guaranteed that there will always be a four-member board,” says Van der Pol.
The COR normally has 16 members: two on behalf of each of the seven faculties plus two on behalf of the service departments. For now, the board has 15 members, after the Works Council of the Faculty of Economics and Business managed to delegate only one person to the COR.
Board experience
Gerwin van der Pol, a member of employee participation association De Amsterdamse Academie, is an old hand at employee participation, especially the administrative side of it. He was elected chair for the third time and is thus one of the pillars of the COR, although it must be said that the other four COR members also have experience as board members: Hille, Gonzalez, Grassiani and Kjos also served on the COR board in the previous period(s). The term of office of the new board (and thus of the entire COR) runs until 1 September 2027.
Student council
Unsure for now how the cooperation of the new COR with the new Central Student Council (CSR) will go. Last spring, the CSR filed a no-confidence motion against the UvA board and demanded its resignation. That did not happen. Mediation ensued, but has not yet been finalized. In the meantime, the CSR no longer recognized the UvA board, as a result of which the Joint Assembly (GV) of CSR and COR could only meet on pending issues, but could not take formal decisions. It caused and still causes the COR considerable concern.
Van der Pol now says: “We try to cooperate with the CSR as constructively as possible, as we have always done. But we are very seriously concerned that the GV cannot take some very important decisions as long as the distrust of the CSR towards the CvB continues.”
Demonstration right
Meanwhile, according to some of the UvA staff, the right to demonstrate at the UvA is under threat. UvA members of the FNV, some of whom are also in the COR, want the FNV to also be taken seriously by the UvA about the right to demonstrate. Van der Pol: “The right to demonstrate is part of the UvA house rules, on which the COR has the right of consent. The FNV should certainly be heard by the CvB on this subject, but as COR we do not simply adopt all the FNV’s demands. The COR represents all UvA employees, not just FNV members. We arrive at a position ourselves and include all the different views and arguments of UvA employees.”
Government cuts
The government is expected to announce substantial cuts to higher education next week, which will also affect the UvA. The COR is concerned about this, says Van der Pol. “The cuts that are imminent are a matter of very great concern. We don’t want certain faculties to be hit disproportionately hard later on. Solidarity between faculties must be maintained. In doing so, employees should be harmed as little as possible by the cuts.”
