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Dear members,
We had not planned to send another newsletter, however we have a few things to report to round up the academic year. This will likely be the last one before we resume in early September. The Branch Committee is taking a break for the rest of August, and we hope that all members find some time to rest and recuperate over the next month.
If you are going to be at work, please don’t forget that we are still in a period of ASOS!
Additionally, there is now a branch calendar on our homepage. You can subscribe by clicking the ‘+’ at the bottom right. We plan to use this calendar to share information about, and reminders of, upcoming branch and other meetings as well as events featured in these newsletters.
Read on for the following topics:
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- Know your rights – redundancy consultation meetings
- Farewell
- University Worker struggles across the country
- Local and national campaigning
- Joining link and further information
Know your rights – redundancy consultation meetings
On Friday many staff will have received an email from Helen McNamara to say their role remains at risk of redundancy. These staff will be shortly invited to individual consultation meetings to assess if they wish to move to other suitable roles and thereby avoid compulsory redundancy. Union members are entitled to be accompanied to such meetings by a caseworker from their trade union. UCU members receiving such an email should request caseworker support via the website (blue tab on right hand side of screen).
Further information on redundancy consultation meetings and the law can be found from Citizens Advice.
Farewell
Two members of the branch committee are moving on to other jobs and will be sorely missed. They have also worked as Department Reps in their Schools, Caseworkers supporting individual members, members of local campaign groups and branch representatives to UCU national bodies. What follows are some words from people within the branch who worked closely with them.
Gertjan Lucas
Lisa Rull (Equalities Officer):
“Gertjan has been a source of incredible support and encouragement to numerous members through his actions as a department rep, a caseworker, a branch committee member and Equality Officer. He’s tirelessly served the specific needs of migrant members both locally and at national level on the Migrants Members’ Standing Committee. Beyond this expertise, his contributions have nevertheless covered every aspect of equality issues and I feel very fortunate to have benefited from his expertise and attention to detail as his co-Equality Officer over the past year. His capacity to cite minutiae of rules, regulations, procedures and past decisions has enabled effective decision-making across numerous meetings and I will miss his diligence and level-headed approach to union activism greatly as he moves to a new life beyond UK HE.”
Tom Coogan (Rep, Business School):
“Gertjan has been a thoughtful, proactive rep for the Business School, with an eye for detail and a practical, good-humored approach to the role. I couldn’t have asked for a better co-rep.”
Michaela Collord
Ella Guerin (Membership & Organising Secretary, Reps Coordinator) and Joe Kearsey (Rep, Politics and International Relations):
“Michaela has spent the past year as a Membership Secretary and Reps Coordinator, developing the Reps network activity to introduce more informative meetings about the key campaigns, supporting Reps through back to back e- and postal ballots, and guiding many new reps who joined the network in recent months. She has been a pivotal member of the Anti-Casualisation campaign group. In this network, she has contributed a huge amount of work to organising the UoN Anti-Cas survey of our casualised workers, and the 2023 report for UoN UCU on Counting the Cost of Casualisation at the University of Nottingham. Her dedication to supporting and representing casualised members of staff across the university is profound, most recently working with UCU members in the Language Centre to fight against casualisation and job cuts. Michaela has also been the Rep for School of Politics for a number of years to boot!
Michaela’s knowledge, contributions, dedication, and care for every member will be greatly missed as she moves on to pursue a new job at the University of Manchester. But there is no doubt that their branch will be very fortunate to have her!”
Andrew Renault (Casework Coordinator):
“Michaela has been branch casework coordinator and a very active caseworker focussing on helping members navigate the thorny issue of short term casualised employment contracts. Her insight and energy in getting these renewed and sometimes changed to permanent contracts has been invaluable. She will be sorely missed.”
University worker struggles across the country
Over the past few months we have been highlighting the fights of various branches across the country against job cuts, and asking members to sign petitions and/or send letters in protest. Read on for updates on some of these campaigns.
The UCU branch at Newcastle University ended their dispute with the employer after 40 days of industrial action with a victory. Management has now withdrawn their threat of compulsory redundancies this year, and promised to end their plans for ‘workforce re-sizing’ next year, also making key commitments on workload and casualisation.
The redundancy program at the University of Derby has expanded to include Professional Services staff, after initially being restricted to academics. This is of course the inverse of management’s strategy here at UoN. The UCU branch has however had a significant win in its BDS campaign, forcing the University to de-invest from Blackrock.
Local and national campaigning
Workload Webinars
In order to push back against excessive workloads in the sector, East Midlands UCU is hosting two webinars to equip members with the requisite skills and information. Details below:
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- Wednesday 3rd September 4pm: Challenging Excessive Workload in Education
- Wednesday 22nd October 4pm: Saying No with Confidence
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We encourage members to attend. In either instance, please email eastmidlands@ucu.org.uk to register.
Workload campaign – keep up the pressure!
The Branch Workload Campaign Group is working closely with the UCU National Workload Health and Safety Officer, who has advised us to keep gathering data of unsustainable workloads and work-related stress. This is particularly in light of the HSE taking our concerns very seriously.
You can help by adding your voices to those have already heard via this questionnaire. We will use your voices to keep campaigning for our right to sustainable workloads and a safe and supportive working environment that doesn’t leave us stressed and burnt out. Thank you so much for your help and support.
Call on Nottinghamshire County Council to divest from apartheid
We encourage all members to sign Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s petition demanding that Nottinghamshire County Council divests from from companies and organisations complicit in the genocide in Palestine
Currently the LGPS holds £170 million in shares in genocide-complicit companies. In line with the branch’s BDS motion and solidarity with Palestine motion the branch has given official support to the campaign.
60 Years of the Tricontinental Conference: Context, Impact, Legacy, and Future
Parvathi Kumaraswami, an academic at the University is crowdfunding for travel grants for scholars, artists and activists from the Global South to attend the above January 2026 conference at the University of Havana. This will celebrate the original event and prioritize contributions from the Global South and stimulate important debates about the original event and its relevance to anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and decolonisation.
Please consider making a donation if you’re able. More information and donation link here.
Report anti-trans discrimination
Have you been questioned, stopped or challenged using a single-sex space? Fill in this form to help TransActual advocate on this issue at a national level.
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!
Struggling with your mental health or wellbeing? UCU members get free access to confidential support service educationsupport.org.uk who can be called 24/7 on 08000 562 561.
Yours sincerely,
L Scott Blankenship and Will Paterson-Bassett, Branch Communications Officers, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
Branch website: https://uonucu.org/