We are deeply concerned by today’s news of job losses at UoN, as reported by the VC in her email earlier today. We have also met with VC and senior management this afternoon, where these APM job losses and timelines (Phase 1) were discussed. We are already very worried about some discrepancies between public statements by the university and information we have received privately by them. Rest assured that the branch committee will be going through all the information in meticulous detail and will be challenging the university’s attack on staff at every turn. We will be in touch with further updates as they come in. Please do attend the Emergency meeting on Friday, where we can discuss further.
Chag sameach to all members observing Passover starting Saturday!
In these worrying times we want to keep our members as informed as possible. To this end, the Redundancy Working Group has compiled detailed advice and information on our website. In addition, as communicated by Lopa on Monday, there will be an online Emergency Meeting and Q&A session this Friday 11th April at 3pm to discuss what the branch is doing to support you and resist job cuts.
Make sure your colleagues know what’s happening at UoN
Spotlight on casework
Unsustainable workloads make us ill!
Branch Committee meeting summary
Local and national campaigning
Joining link and further information
Educate, Agitate, Organise
Last week a total of 1,100 staff members attended two open informational meetings held by the three campus unions. These were used to inform staff about Future Nottingham, University restructuring and possible compulsory redundancies, the Universities financial position, and our next steps as staff and/or union members. The high attendance and engagement signifies that there is both a high level of concern about the future of the University, and a willingness to try to do something about it.
Thank you to all who attended and promoted the meetings.
Colleagues at all levels, all job types, unionised or not, can follow this Whatsapp channel for updates on working conditions, redundancies and restructuring at UoN. Members are anonymous to other members and admins unless you are contacts. Please share this with your colleagues, and ensure they turn notifications ON.
Make sure your colleagues know what’s happening at UoN
Help make colleagues aware of what’s really happening at UoN, from job cuts to vanity projects. Download our campaign poster, print it off and stick it to your office door or anywhere else people will see it.
This poster was developed by the Redundancy Working Group, which develops our strategy to combat the risk of redundancies and feeds back to the Branch Committee. If you are interested in joining, please contact uonucubranch@gmail.com.
Spotlight on casework
As we are now half way through the academic year, it seems a good time to reflect on the practical solidarity the branch has been offering members. Since September we have helped 72 members, which is nearly double that at this point last year. From advising members on handling protected conversations to supporting members facing bullying, the range of issues we help with is diverse. A big thanks to our local caseworker team without whom none of this would be possible (Lila, Cyril, Michaela, Onni, Peter, Jenny, Liz, Martin, Lisa, Gertjan, Sara, Alice, Luisa and David). I also need to thank the fountains of knowledge and experience Julie and Gareth at the UCU regional office who support our local caseworkers when issues get especially complex or questions of legality are raised.
We are currently looking for extra caseworkers, specifically to help members facing compulsory redundancies should the University announce those. Please contact the branch email, uonucubranch@gmail.com if you would like to help.
As a reminder, if you are a member and need advice on an employment issue, the quickest way to raise it is via the ‘Ask for help’ tab on our website.
– Andrew Renault (Casework Coordinator)
Unsustainable workloads make us ill!
Despite reporting UoN to HSE for failing its legal duty to prevent work-related stress, our employer is still hesitating to establish the Workload/Stress JNCC we have urgently requested. In the meantime, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that 4,713 working days were lost to work-related stress absence between 1st Sept 2023 and 31st August 2024. That amounts to over 21 years of work lost in one year, due to the unmitigated pressure of unsustainable workloads.
The Committee also received advice from Steve French on action to oppose redundancies.
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Local and national campaigning
Gathering information on redundancy At UoN UCU, we are determined to fight management’s cuts, especially when they put the job security of our members at risk. In order to prepare for any future redundancies we are keen to find out more about what sort of cuts or suspicious changes are happening across the University. We’ve set up a google form for you to share this information with us.
Workload group drop ins The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next sessions will take place online; Monday 7 April April 1.00 – 2.00. Meeting Link
Call for delegates to hybrid congress – either in-person or online Lisa Rull and Gertjan Lucas, Equality Officers, had been nominated as delegates to the annual UCU congress. With four positions available, they have been elected unopposed. Nominations will remain open until a sufficient number of delegates is reached, so if you are still interested do get in touch by emailing the branch.
UCU reasonable adjustment survey UCU is aiming to gain an understanding of your experiences with reasonable adjustments at work from both the perspectives of UCU members and branch representatives who support disabled UCU members. They kindly ask that you complete a brief survey to share your insights by Wednesday 16th April at the latest.
Oppose a renewal of Starbucks’ licence on campus! The encampment students have organised a petition asking UoN not to renew Starbucks’ contract on campus due to the company’s support for Israel. The UCU committee has agreed on supporting the collection of signatures. Click here for more detailed information and to sign the petition.
Emergency Meeting/Q&A session with UoN UCU: Friday April 11 at 3pm
Further to my email on Friday, we would like to invite you to a branch meeting this week, where we can discuss and deliberate on Phase 1 Future Nottingham plans which begin soon. The Phase 1 document will be available to all stakeholders (we were told) on Tuesday 8 April. We had/have asked to see this document, but were told that it was still undergoing draft changes. Late Friday evening, we received an email inviting Andreas and I to a meeting on the afternoon of the 8th to discuss Phase 1, possibly in the JNCC subgroup meeting on Organisational Change. Last week we also had 2 excellent, hugely well-attended, Joint Unions Open Staff meetings for Professional Services Colleagues who Phase 1 directly affects, with many important questions being asked. Phase 2, which will affect academics, will begin in the autumn term, and there is also a Phase 3 (Estates) planned. We have sent our ASF2 to the interim CFO, who plans to have a finance meeting with us soon.
We know that many of you will be worried about job security in view of the possibility of compulsory redundancies and the methods employed to reach these. We are sure you will have lots of questions about what is happening and what your branch is doing to support you and to push back against any job cuts. We are keen to know all concerns and what you think we should be doing/challenging further. We need to have a safe space where we can discuss all this. To this end, we are hosting an UoNUCU Emergency Meeting/Q&A session, on Friday April 11 at 3pm. See the zoom link below. Please do come.
This week we will also start sending out daily emails outlining various pertinent aspects of our campaign against redundancies. These will be sent from the Redundancy Working Group email, so do look out for those.
Don’t forget the indicative e-ballot emails will start coming to you from April 10, and ends on May 9, we need all to vote.
See you on Friday.
Yours, in solidarity,
Lopa
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UCU UoN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Welcome to your weekly newsletter. To mark this most important day, we have included half of our news updates in this email with the other half printed on a scroll and hidden somewhere in one of the buildings on the Castle Meadow Campus. You will be allowed to search for these important updates once the campus formally opens in… [transmission interrupted].
This is on behalf of all three University of Nottingham Unions and thus all job levels 1 – 7. Both dates will be online via Teams (Join using your UoN account):
Today Tuesday April 1st 3pm-4pm Thursday April 3rd 9.30am-10.30am
UCU, Unison and Unite
American and Canadian Studies – a sign of things to come?
With all undergraduate degrees already suspended for 2025/2026, colleagues in American and Canadian Studies (ACS) were informed that the degrees will remain suspended for 2026/2027 too. Understandably, colleagues are concerned whether there will still be a job for them in 2027/2028, when almost all current students will have completed their degree. Importantly, they are fighting back collectively, having tabled a constructive proposal for a way forward saving all jobs. The committee is, however, concerned that this is just the start of Future Nottingham, with the suspension and eventual closure of many more courses to follow in due course. It indicates that our dispute over the VC’s failure to commit to no compulsory redundancies remains of utmost importance.
Make sure your colleagues know what’s happening at UoN
Help make colleagues aware of what’s really happening at UoN, from job cuts to vanity projects. Download our campaign poster, print it off and stick it to your office door or anywhere else people will see it.
This poster was developed by the Redundancy Working Group, which develops our strategy to combat the risk of redundancies and feeds back to the Branch Committee. If you are interested in joining, please contact uonucubranch@gmail.com.
Workload testimonials for Health and Safety Executive
Following reporting to HSE for UoN failure to meet legal obligations regarding stress prevention, the Workload Working Group has asked for a bespoke Workload/stress JNCC or equivalent to be created, so that this work can be addressed swiftly and efficiently. We will keep you posted on the University’s response to this request.
UoN is sending out formal invitations to attend Long Term Absence Meetings while members are still signed off sick by their GP. Please note that the UoN sickness absence management policy (section 5.1) states: “In all cases, contact should be approached sensitively and should be clearly focused on the employee’s health and wellbeing and their return to work”. UCU considers such requests insensitive and detrimental to health and wellbeing and advises you to not attend any meetings until you are fit for work.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 27th March (despite power cuts preventing some members’ timely arrival) and discussed;
The previous day’s Vice Chancellor inaugural lecture,
Improving Branch Committee meeting efficiency as well as the roles and responsibilities of the various Working Groups,
The possibility of a Trade dispute with the Secretary of Education,
How to effectively reach out to non-unionised staff at UoN,
Plans for the upcoming AGM,
Strategy and timeline for combating the threat of APM redundancies,
The Branch Committee meets weekly. If you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Local and national campaigning
Gathering information on redundancy At UoN UCU, we are determined to fight management’s cuts, especially when they put the job security of our members at risk. In order to prepare for any future redundancies we are keen to find out more about what sort of cuts or suspicious changes are happening across the University. We’ve set up a google form for you to share this information with us.
Workload group drop ins The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next sessions will take place online; Tuesday 1st April 3:15-4:15 pm. REDACTED
Call for delegates to hybrid congress – either in-person or online Lisa Rull and Gertjan Lucas, Equality Officers, had been nominated as delegates to the annual UCU congress. With four positions available, they have been elected unopposed. Nominations will remain open until a sufficient number of delegates is reached, so if you are still interested do get in touch by emailing the branch.
‘Green Futures’ newsletter UCU’s Climate Ecological Emergency Committee are now releasing a quarterly newsletter. Read all about them and their work. Interested in this topic? Please email the branch at uonucubranch@gmail.com so we can direct you to more information on UCU’s Climate and Ecological Emergency work.
Solidarity with Unison healthcare assistants in Nottingham Hundreds of healthcare assistants have voted YES to strike action with a majority of 94%. This comes after the employer’s refusal to improve an offer on back-pay to compensate workers performing clinical duties outside their job description during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please support your fellow workers by paying a visit to their picket lines at QMC and City Hospital on the 10th, 11th, 17th, 22nd, and 28th of April. Pickets will be in place from 6:30 am – 2:30 pm each day.
UoN complicity with Gaza genocide On Wednesday, 26th March the local UCU branch held a seminar on UoN’s complicity in genocide in Gaza with a speaker from the encampment students, outlining key findings from their research report in this respect. This included links between UoN and arms manufacturers as well as UoN and Israeli institutions of Higher Education. Rachel Rosen from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign at UCL also addressed the meeting, speaking about their experiences with engaging wider staff and management at their university, thereby providing food for thought re the BDS campaign at UoN. The recording of the event is now available here.
