Dear members,
We hope you are settling well into the new semester, and extend seasonal greetings to all celebrating the Spring Festival this week. Thank you to all members who have written to us following our previous newsletter. We are still evaluating how best to deliver you these updates, so if you have any further comments, do not hesitate to contact us.
Reminder of branch meeting
As announced in the email from the branch Secretary on Wednesday 22nd January, we will be having our first branch meeting of the year on Wednesday 5th February, 1-2 pm. We will be discussing the upcoming national industrial action ballot and the ongoing local workload campaign.
The meeting will be hybrid. Use the Zoom link below if you intend to attend online, in-person attendance in Monica Partridge E07.
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Call for a social media rep – with facility time
Are you someone who is good with social media, whether it’s Bluesky or Facebook or Insta or the one owned by the weirdo?
UoN UCU needs someone to help run our social media accounts and we are looking to our wonderful members. We are now able to provide facility time, up to 0.1 FTE for anyone taking on this role. This means that you will be given paid time off work in order to complete the requirements of the role (for more information, see the ACAS website).
You don’t need to be a committee member or a rep, just someone who is good with words. If you’re interested please contact uonucubranch@gmail.com.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Thursday 16th and Wednesday 22nd January. Meetings included discussion of:
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- This newsletter,
- The Agnes Flues Memorial lecture,
- Collective grievance concerning unsafe working conditions in the Sir Clive Granger Building,
- Joint working with NTU UCU,
- Future Nottingham and UEB challenges,
- Get the Vote Out capacity and tactics for the upcoming industrial action ballot,
- Arrangements for the upcoming (hybrid) branch meeting,
- Climate Change lecture series.
The committee also heard updates from the workload campaign.
The Branch Committee meets most weeks, if you would like Committee to discuss a particular topic please email the details to: uonucubranch@gmail.com
Updates on ongoing UoN UCU struggles
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- Following the submission of the collective grievance concerning unsafe working conditions in Sir Clive Granger, the Branch Secretary (Nick Clare), Health and Safety officer (Cyril Rauch), and Silvia Sonderegger (Departmental Rep, Economics) with management to discuss next steps.
- The Branch President (Lopa Leach) and Vice President (Andreas Bieler) attended the Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee (JNCC) and discussed University Finances, Future Nottingham, Health and Safety issues in the University, and Facility Time for branch officers.
- The plethora of compounding issues with Unicore have been raised to Research and Knowledge Exchange.
Local and national campaigns
Democracy at the Crossroads – Alan Simpson lecture series, hosted by UoN UCU in cooperation with the University of Nottingham Students Union.
Alan is a climate campaigner and former MP for Nottingham South. The lectures will detail the political and economic challenges we face in the era of the climate crisis with the first, titled ‘Welcome to servitude: the slide from democracy into (corporate) feudalism’, being scheduled for Wednesday 12th February, 2 to 4 p.m in A40 Sir Clive Granger Building.
Full details of the lecture series can be found here.
The first ever Palestine Film Festival will take place this weekend, Sunday 2nd February, at Nottingham Contemporary.
Arranged by the Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the profits from the film festival will be split between Freedom Theater and Defense for Children International – Palestine.
Stand Up to Racism
Nottingham Stand Up To Racism have asked us to encourage members to attend their local monthly meetings to help shape the fight against racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism in our City and County. They meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 6.30pm at The Global Lounge, Nottingham Trent University, Goldsmith St, NG1 5JT and all are welcome.
Stand Up To Racism are also organising a protest on Saturday 1st February to stop the far right and oppose Tommy Robinson supporters. Nottingham SUTR are organising coach trips to London for the demonstration.
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 UCU reps here. If you are interested in becoming a departmental rep, get in touch!
Yours sincerely,
Nick Clare, Branch Secretary, on behalf of UoN UCU Branch Committee
Branch website: https://uonucu.org/