I'm thinking aloud here, trying to sort out my understanding of the current consultation on CDSA (Career Development and Staff Appraisal) and the AL Illustrated Role at http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/employment-info/pages/salary-and-benefits/assimilation-communication.htm
Individual ALs are invited to comment and there are structured forms to help us do so.
It's very important that we, as ALs, do comment, for it is on the basis of these documents that I think our actual pay and conditions under the new contract are likely to be worked out.
The AL role has already been agreed, and it is on that basis that AL positions have been put on a grade 7 scale, ie. the AL role has been used to decide that our job is worth £120 per day rather than, say, £60 per day.
The AL illustrated role which we are invited to comment on, shows how the AL role might be implemented, and ultimately what the workload might be. It's the document that will inform a decision about whether an AL job takes 30 days a year or only 10 days a year.
The CDSA process is important for two reasons. It might, ultimately, enable progression onto discretionary points on the salary scale and any other bonuses. It is also, importantly, the pre-requisite the university said it needed in order to be able to abolish the retirement age. On the latter, the ALC Officers were very encouraged to hear the Vice Chancellor say that he is absolutely committed to abolition, and that we are still on track to do so in 2011 during a meeting we had with him on Wednesday.