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Dear members,
Due to recent events in the University, colleagues may be more open to joining UCU – you can distribute this joining link to interested colleagues.
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- “Protected” and “without prejudice” conversations
- Branch meeting summary
- Branch Committee meeting summary
- Local and national campaigning events
- Joining link and further information
“Protected” and “without prejudice” conversations
The union was made aware last week of academics within a number of faculties being invited to “protected” or “without prejudice” conversations. Conversations labelled as such usually involve the employer offering the employee terms on which they agree to leave their job. In the case of “protected” conversations, the employee need not have been underperforming in any way to be targeted. Although such conversations are not notices of redundancy, they do usually seek to find a mutually agreeable exit strategy.
Qualifying members (i.e. those who have been members for at least 90 days) have the right to be accompanied by a union representative at such conversations and members wishing to do so should request support via the branch website using the casework support form or the branch email uonucubranch@gmail.com. The caseworker team has already been briefed by the UCU regional office on the legal and practical aspects of such conversations and will be able to support and advise members facing such situations. In addition, the branch executive is pushing the University to explain why such actions are being taken at this time and how this fits into any wider strategy.
As you may imagine, the casework team is now dealing with a steep increase in caseload. If you wish to train as a caseworker and join the team you would be most welcome, please contact uonucubranch@gmail.com.
Related to these issues, Tony Padilla (Branch Treasurer) is heading up the formation of a Redundancy Working Group to facilitate the strongest, broadest possible coalition to combat any upcoming redundancies. We encourage members regardless of previous activity within the union to join this group full or part time. Even if you do not join, we encourage you to feed relevant information to the group. Whatever your desired degree of involvement, please contact Tony at REDACTED.
Branch meeting summary
The all members meeting on Wednesday 5th February was very well attended. The hybrid format worked well, with some feedback given about future improvements. Thank you to all who attended in-person or online. There were two items discussed.
- Industrial Action Ballot
The meeting featured a report by Andreas Bieler (Branch Vice President) on the delays to the national ballot.
- Workload Campaign
Jenny Elliott (Workload Health and Safety Officer) and Melanie Bhend (Workload Rep) presented updates on the local workload campaign. The campaign has been pressuring the University to fulfill their legal obligations to assess and prevent stress hazards due to excessive workloads.
Jenny and Mel also took the opportunity to reiterate that individual members should resist being given more work, both to protect themselves and as an act of solidarity to counteract the normalisation of dangerous workloads.
Slides for this presentation can be found on our website. Further resources can also be found on the workload campaign page (link above), and drop-in sessions will be organised to support members.
If you wish to join the Workload Working Group or need any support to ‘just say no’ to excessive workloads, please contact Jenny at REDACTED or Mel at REDACTED.
Branch Committee meeting summary
Prior to the branch meeting, your Branch Committee met briefly on Wednesday 5th February and discussed the final preparations for the branch meeting (see above), and strategies for responding to the news of ‘protected’ and ‘without prejudice’ conversations.
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 events
National UCU annual meetings:
National annual meetings (hybrid – Zoom or UCU HQ) for two member constituencies are scheduled in the coming weeks. These annual meetings are where branches can influence UCU policy and work for the future on issues affecting these types of members. More information at the links below.
Staff on casualised contracts: Saturday 22nd February 2025. Registration deadline tomorrow Wednesday 12th February.
Academic related and professional services (ARPS) staff: Thursday 6th March. Registration deadline Tuesday, 25 February 5pm.
If you are interested in attending as a delegate from our branch, please email uonucubranch@gmail.com.
National day of action for Palestine:
In solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and against the University’s continuing lack of solidarity with Palestine, UoN UCU and the Nottingham Camp for the Liberation of Palestine will hold a rally in Trent Courtyard on Thursday 13th of February at 1:00 pm. This is followed by an online talk from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. with Palestinian and British activists. Attend using the Zoom link below.
REDACTED
Further information can be found here.
Public lecture series on climate crisis and democracy by Alan Simpson begins this Wednesday:
Alan Simpson, former MP for Nottingham South, will deliver a lecture titled ‘Welcome to servitude: the slide from democracy into (corporate) feudalism’ this Wednesday, 2-4pm in Clive Granger A40, University Park.
This is the first in a series of three lectures entitled “Democracy at the Crossroads”, discussing the impacts of the climate crisis on democracy.