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Dear members,
Welcome to your weekly newsletter. Please don’t forget to attend the general meeting on Wednesday 12th March at 1:00 pm to discuss and vote on declaration of dispute with our employer, in order to defend jobs at UoN. In addition we will be making preparations for the 2025 UCU national congress. Further details (including the text of the motions) can be found in the email from Nick Clare (Branch Secretary) on 3rd March.
Read on for the following topics:
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- Been called in for a “protected conversation”?
- Know your rights – redundancy
- Branch Committee meeting summary
- Local and national campaigning
- Focus on equality
- Joining link and further information
Been called in for a “protected conversation”?
Many members have been called in for “protected conversations”. The prospect of this can be frightening and intimidating, but your Branch will support you if you are an eligible member. Please submit a casework request here using the blue tab at the right of the screen.
An FAQ for protected conversations can be found on the branch website.
Know your rights – redundancy
There is growing concern about compulsory redundancy at UoN affecting permanent members of staff. However, many staff on fixed-term contracts or with fixed-term underlying funding routinely face redundancy as their contracts approach their end date. Staff also take these redundancies as inevitable.
Never assume redundancy is inevitable or fair simply because your contract is expiring. This is especially true for staff with permanent contracts subject to fixed-term underlying funding. As of autumn 2024, HR has conceded that this contract type should not exist. You are permanent, period.
An employer who has provisionally selected an employee for redundancy must write to them warning of the risk of redundancy and invite them to an individual consultation meeting. You have a right to be accompanied to this meeting by a union caseworker. Make sure to take advantage of this! Contact the casework team and ask to discuss the circumstances of your redundancy.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 26th February and discussed
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- Recommendations from the UCU East Midlands Regional Office on potential dispute and industrial action.
- The details of the motion to be voted on at the members’ meeting on 12th March
- Motions for UCU congress
- “Protected Conversations” as they pertain to Administrative, Professional and Managerial (APM) colleagues.
We also nominated and approved Andrew Armstrong as the delegate for the annual UCU Academic-Related, Professional Services meeting.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
This week’s meeting was followed by a meeting with the Redundancy Working Group and Branch Committee to discuss strategy to oppose redundancies.
Local and national campaigning
Workload group drop ins
The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next two sessions will take place online:
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- Wednesday 5th March, 2:00-3:00 pm. REDACTED
- Tuesday 11th March 9:30-10:30 am. REDACTED
Focus on equality
International Women’s Day
Join UCU in celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) this Saturday 8th March. This year’s campaign theme is Accelerate Action and UCU has produced a new wall chart depicting women’s fight for equality since the first International Women’s Day.
Pride and Prejudice in Education 2025
UCU is updating the Pride and Prejudice in Education report about LGBT+ experiences in FE and HE (2016). They are inviting you to complete a survey by the deadline of Friday 21st March. Please do share the survey as it is for all LGBT+ FE and HE staff and students/learners. The chief investigator is Dr Kieran Higgins based at Ulster University.
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Tuesday 25th March marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UCU will be hosting a special webinar that day, 6:00-7:00 pm entitled “Education, reparations and justice: the legacy of slavery in post-16 learning”. Keynote speech will be given by Dr Leona Vaughn, academic and researcher in the field of equalities and social justice, and the webinar is hosted by UCU president Maxine Looby. Please click here to register
Joining link and further information
Remember to pass on the online joining link to your colleagues.
Having trouble at work? Please log a case with our large, competent casework team!
Need to talk to your Departmental Rep? Find the full list of UoN UCU reps here. If you are interested in becoming a departmental rep, get in touch!
Yours sincerely,
L Scott Blankenship and Will Paterson-Bassett, Branch Communications Officers, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
Branch website: https://uonucu.org/