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Dear members,
Happy Holi to all those celebrating this Friday! Remember the all members’ meeting on tomorrow 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.
Read on for the following topics:
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- Alternative Financial Strategy 2.0
- Know your rights – workload
- TUC Women’s Conference report – Lisa Rull
- Branch Committee meeting summary
- Local and national campaigning
- Focus on equality
- Joining link and further information
Alternative Financial Strategy 2.0
As the Vice Chancellor has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies during the current and next academic year and there is talk about a 20 per cent cut in activities across the university, the branch has released the second version of the Alternative Financial Strategy (AFS 2.0). Undoubtedly, there are sector-wide financial pressures and UoN is not alone in facing redundancies. However, there has also been drastic UoN specific financial mismanagement especially around the Castle Meadow Campus, which significantly aggravates our local situation.
In the AFS 2.0, we specify what can and should be done in order to continue performing the educational and research role of the University. This includes an urgent review of all planned infrastructure investments as well as the establishment of better accountability procedures for management decisions.
Know your rights – workload
There are two main pieces of health and safety law which cover work-related stress:
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- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – this puts a ‘duty of care’ on employers to protect their employees from the risk of stress at work
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 – this requires all employers to make a ‘suitable and sufficient assessment’ of the risks to the health and safety of their employees at work
Taken together, this means that by law employers must:
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- Identify any risks to their employees’ health, for example by carrying out a risk assessment,
- Take steps to prevent or reduce work-related stress
Employers must also make sure they’re following the law on working time rules (for more information see Working Time Regulations 1998). This is because working long hours without regular breaks can be a cause of work-related stress.
TUC Women’s Conference report – Lisa Rull
UCU sends a delegation to the TUC Women’s Conference each year, of which our own Lisa Rull (UCU UoN Equality Officer) formed part of the delegation. This year she spoke on Composite 8: Menopause, highlighting the need for both employer and union support and policies for those experiencing menopause (including premature, peri- and post- symptoms).
Lisa also attended last year and moved Motion 11: End intimate police searches.
The conference also marked the formal launch of UCU’s extensively revised and updated poster marking International Women’s Day – suitable to promote all year round!
Branch Committee meeting summary
Your Branch Committee met on Wednesday 5th March and discussed
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- Strategy for outstanding and further protected conversations
- Developments in other branches to challenge the government over Higher Education funding
- Concerns about the ways in which the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is being used across the University.
The Committee also heard updates from the Redundancy and Palestine Solidarity Working Groups.
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
Workload group drop ins
The Workload Group is organising drop-in sessions to support members to fight against unsustainable workloads. The next session will take place online on Thursday 20th March 1:30-2:30 pm. Meeting Link
Climate lecture
Join us for the third and final ‘Democracy at the Crossroads’ lecture with Alan Simpson. On Wednesday 19th March Alan will speak on “Rebuilding from the base: the ‘me’ and the ‘we’ of democratic renewal” in A39 in the Sir Clive Granger Building, University Park from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
Focus on equality
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/