Seasons Greetings and update on 2024 for UoN UCU members

Dear UCU members,

On behalf of our branch committee we would like to send to you our Seasons Greetings and also wish you a Happy 2025. 

This year has been a mixed year for all of us.

As I’m sure you all know, in April this year, we had our pension benefits restored. This followed tireless industrial action over several years by you, our members. We should be very proud of what we have achieved in this respect and we should not underestimate its importance. We have an excellent pension that we can all look forward to in our retirement!

At a local level, we are very pleased with the new revised joint union agreement with UoN. This has far more favourable terms, including correct recognition of facility time at the salary levels of UCU Officers, Case workers and Reps. Huge thanks goes to our past President,  Andreas Bieler, Treasurer Agnes Flues and Regional Officer Julie Cooper for all the hard work they put into agreeing this  document. As a result, the university now has a new Joint Negotiation and Consultative Committee (JNCC) which meet trade union leads every 3 months. There are five  sub-committees who will report to the JNCC, with the following  branch committee officers representing UoNUCU on these sub-committees:

  • HR Policies: Andrew Renault, Lisa Rull
  • Pay and Award: Andrew Armstrong, Lopa Leach and Gerardus Lucas
  • Organisational Change: Cecilia Testa, Lopa Leach, Andreas Bieler
  • Performance and Talent: Gerardus Lucas, Jenny Elliot, Melanie Bhend
  • Contracts: Michaela Collord, Sam O’Thompson

We will be working on the terms of reference on each group from January. 

Of course, we have also had our challenges this year

We have had numerous meetings with the university this year on finance and MARS! As you all know, the university finds itself with a large financial deficit through a combination of external pressure and poor financial decision making.  Perhaps the most notable example of this is the purchase of Castle Meadow Campus but the problems run much deeper than just one bad decision.  The university has faced two major liquidity crises within the space of four years (!) demonstrating the current financial model is not resilient to shocks.   In response to the confidential mid-term financial plan (MTFP) shared with our Finance group, we presented our Alternative Financial Strategy 2.0to the Vice-Chancellor and Finance Officer. We have been told that the Treasurer of the university has seen this document. Our recommendations include: 

  • Exercise extreme caution in pursuing strategic capital spending programs;
  • Avoid a risky strategy of shrinking portfolio of activities that reduces research and teaching capacity in an uncertain environment;
  • Urgent review of the size and shape of the capital spending program including divestment of CMC:
  • Reversal to a contribution based model;
  • Changing governance structure and accountability: scrutiny of MTFP should involve revenue generating units i.e. Schools and Senate,  our only partially elected body.

AFS 2.0 is the work of just one of  the branch committee’s several  working groups. Others include the Workload Campaign Group who have initiated the legal Stress Risk assessments and Health and Safety Inspections and the tireless Anti-Casualisation Group, who have continued to challenge precarious working conditions at the university.  In the last year, the anti-cas group have succeeded in securing better pay and conditions for postgraduate demonstrators in the Faculty of ScienceThe Palestine Working Group invited Sundos Hammad and Anne Alexander to speak about scholasticide in Gaza. They have also set up the BDS pledge, where staff and PhD students at UoN can sign up and pledge our solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing and plausible genocide. If you support this campaign,  please sign the pledge if you haven’t done so already.  See also below a link to the recent House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Israel and Palestine where Dr Victor Kattan (Law) gave evidence.

We have continued our work on Equalities, inviting Maxine Looby to come and talk about Tackling Structural Racism. We have also stood with our BAME Staff network on their challenges and concerns re the Historical Links to Transatlantic Enslavement (link to report below) and the low key handling of this information by UoNThis has created a sense of exclusion of members of the network and black students.  Their demands for reparative justice include :

  • A shared understanding that staff and students of colour should not bear the sole burden of creating solutions 
  • Tangible reparative actions, including scholarships, public memorials, permanent visual acknowledgements, funding for community projects
  • The need for an actionable timeline— the start of a long-term commitment, not a one-off conversation.

We said a sad farewell to Agnes, our wonderful former president who passed away so tragically in August. You can read her obituary in The Guardian.  Agnes’ funeral was poignant and very well attended. In November, many of us took part in the Wollaton Hall  Park Run in her memory and your generous contributions raised a substantial amount of money for the hardship fund. The dedicated annual lecture will occur next term and we are planning to create a plaque to place in Memorial Forest at UP. We will update you next term. 

On farewells, two of our most tireless activists, Howard Stevenson and Tony Simmonds are leaving UoN. For those of you who don’t know, Howard was President of UoNUCU from 2013 to 2016 and then Branch Reps co-ordinator from 2018 onwards. He served another stint as President from August 2023 to January 2024. His presence and strength shown during our disputes is incomparable, including the amazing breakfasts at entrance to Jubilee Campus and the many teach-outs . Tony joined the Committee in July 2021, as APM Officer. He served as Secretary from July 2023 -now. Tony joined UoN in February 2011 as Senior Research Librarian, in UoN Libraries, this perhaps should have alerted us about how well read he was on employment law and branch rules and regulations. His calm presence, approachability and friendship at meetings and the picket line will be sorely missed. Farewell both. See selected images below of these two wonderful trade unionists and how they have enriched our lives. 

We are happy to report that Tony played his part on trying to find a new Secretary to step into his very big shoes. Please may we introduce Nick Clare (Geography) as the new Secretary for the rest of the year. (Yes!).  As we move towards more challenging times, we are also heartened by the fact that two of our committee Thomas Sotiriou and Andrew Armstrong have been elected by Senate to serve on Council. This is an excellent and important achievement as we enter a difficult period ahead. 

There is no doubt that 2025 will be a busy year for our industrial relations. As you will already know, UCU will soon be balloting for industrial action over pay, following our collective decision to reject last year’s pay offer from our employers.  As a committee, we will be keeping a watchful eye on Future Nottingham, what size and shape means for us, and the proposed course changes. Please be rest assured that any major redundancy announcements  will immediately result in an industrial dispute as unanimously voted for at the last members meeting.  We will be forming a new working group in the new year to plan ahead for possible redundancies. We will be inviting members to join this group early next year.

Together we are strong.

Happy Holidays ,

Lopa, Andreas and Tony P 

(UoNUCU President,  Vice President and Treasurer).

Notice of General Meeting 20th November 2024 1-2pm.

The University of Nottingham UCU Branch is calling a General Meeting on Wednesday 20 November,  1-2pm on Zoom.*

The meeting agenda is as follows:

  1. Update on the Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0 (AFS2) [circulated to members on 4th November] and the University’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).
  2. Motion on the American and Canadian Studies (ACS) programme 
  3. Motion on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) pledge

The motions will be circulated to members by email prior to the meeting along with a Zoom link for the meeting.

*Original notice was circulated to members by email on 6th November.

Agenda for branch meeting 24th September

Dear members,

Hope you have had as nice a summer break as you could. The branch meeting tomorrow will be our first 24/25 meeting of the year. Please find below the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting and the Zoom link again. The meeting will start promptly at 12:30 pm.

We will update you about the beautiful ceremony held last week, which so many of you attended in person or by live stream. The Eulogies were given by Manuel, Olympia (Head of Law) and myself (on behalf of UoNUCU), there were readings by two other friends. The celebrant Louise Savage, was brilliant. The huge role that Agnes played for us was beautifully elucidated by her, Manuel and us. Manuel put together a slideshow of Agnes, which of course had so many images of her at our rallies, picket lines etc. The Regional committee also had a dedicated session this Saturday where Andreas Bieler spoke for our branch.

We have been updated verbally on latest MARS by HR. There were 515 applications, 293 approved, 222 declined and 2 withdrawals. We were told that 69 will leave in August, 13 in September, 8 in October, 1 in November, 183 in December. We have yet to receive numerical data at school level from HR. Thanks to our Reps for letting us have, where available, individual school data. They report inconsistencies and the picture is still incomplete. This makes the Workload as a Health & Safety issue even more important. Please see attached an important document written by Jenny Elliot et al (UCU Workload Group). We have sent this document to HR as well.

Regarding MARS, many of our UCU colleagues have availed themselves of this. We thank them for their amazing loyalty to us and the ways they have always supported workers rights.

And finally, and importantly, we need your thoughts about the UCEA pay offer/pay elements and future UCU strategies which Gertjan Lucas and I can take to the Branch Delegate Meeting and voice your decisions there after our Branch meeting.

See you tomorrow,

Lopa.

General Meeting 24 September, 2024, 12:30 -1:30 pm. Agenda:

  • Update on Agnes.
    • Celebration of the life of Agnes Flues.
    • Annual Agnes Flues Lecture.
    • Tree in UP and Obituary.
  • Workload as a Health & Safety Issue.
  • Pay negotiations and the next steps (voting).

Response to far-right riots

Dear Members,

In addition to all the horrible events happening in the world, from brutal suppression of student protests in Bangladesh and continued genocide in Gaza, we have now been witnessing ongoing far-right riots, shocking scenes of racist, anti-migrant and Islamophobic rallies in the UK, including Nottingham. There is further notice of such events being planned here for this week. These events affect us all. It impacts directly members, the wider university community and especially staff and students from Muslim, migrant and racialised backgrounds who have to travel to work by public transport. Those with children are concerned about the risks and exposure of their loved ones to racial abuse.

We have written to the university about our concerns. We have asked them to communicate their support for staff and students, including access to wellbeing services, adjustments to working patterns and authorisation of approval of work from home requests (given these are health and safety issues) until the situation has calmed down. We will keep you informed about their response. We can send you the links to various university support resources if they don’t. In the meantime, do reach out to your colleagues, write to your teams and overseas PGR expressing your concern and support.

As you know, the branch has participated in the Unity Rally co-sponsored by the local TUC in which we stood firm against racism and fascism this Saturday. This was very well attended with inspiring talks and amazing posters! Here is a link to pics . We will let you know about further rallies if and when they are organised. It is important for us as a trade union to show our support for and solidarity with migrant and minority workers. We must not abandon public spaces to the far right.

Please feel free to contact us, or your reps on any of the issues above and how we can help. We will be writing to you mid-September (HR promises to provide the data to us then) with our overview on MARS, final numbers, hopefully broken down according to Faculties/Schools, how much UoN has managed to reduce debt by, and how we challenge any increase in workloads.

In solidarity.

Lopa, UoN UCU President (on behalf of the Branch Committee)

Solidarity with UoN students in view of eviction threat by management!

This is a version of an email sent to UCU members at the University of Nottingham on Thursday 16th May.

Dear UCU members,
Even though the student encampment on Jubilee campus in support of Palestine has been entirely peaceful, UoN management has moved towards their eviction. In response, I have written today to the VC on behalf of the UCU committee urging management to reconsider their approach to our students (see underneath this message).

The Court hearing will take place tomorrow morning [Friday 17th May] at 11.30 a.m. at Birmingham Civil Justice, Birmingham District Registry, King’s Bench Division, Priory Courts, 33 Bull Street, Birmingham, B4 6DS. If you happen to be close or can make the time, please go there in support of our students.

Finally, there is currently an online petition organised by staff [full text below]. The committee strongly encourages you to sign. [At time of posting, over 150 UoN staff have signed the original petition.]

Committee email to VC, 16 May

Dear Vice Chancellor,

It is with great dismay that we have learned that yesterday the University served the student encampment – which UoN itself pointed out as being peaceful (see https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/currentstudents/news/conflict-in-israel-and-gaza-accessing-support) – with papers as a first step towards their eviction. And this without even having attempted to engage constructively with the students and their demands. Considering that yesterday marked the anniversary of the Nakba, when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes 76 years ago, management could not have chosen a more inopportune moment.

We would like to remind you that the encampment has neither occupied any buildings, nor has it obstructed the normal functioning of day-to-day University business. We therefore urge you to reflect carefully on management’s next steps and whether a constructive dialogue, similar to what has happened at other UK universities, may not be preferable over the application of brute force and the high financial costs this involves.

We also note that similar concerns have already been brought to your attention by staff in the Department of Philosophy with other parts of the university likely to follow.

We have to be clear that should management choose a course of confrontation with the encampment, we as UCU UoN would be left with no alternative but to speak up and condemn this course publicly.

Yours, Andreas (on behalf of the UCU Committee at UoN)

Statement regarding the peaceful protest encampment at the University of Nottingham

As members of staff at the University of Nottingham, we believe that the freedom to protest is essential to our democracy. The right to protest should be respected and protected, especially by institutions such as universities.

Currently, students are engaged in peaceful protest on university campuses across the UK, including an encampment at the University of Nottingham. We are concerned that some universities are not upholding these students’ democratic rights.

The University of Nottingham camp is positioned intentionally such that it does not interfere with the normal use of the university. Students, lecturers and other staff are able to go to work and class without interference. They are friendly, approachable and communal. They are conscientious about safety, tidiness, waste, and hygiene.

The students are a credit to the university. They display the very principles that a university education should be working to instil in students: conscientiousness, passion, the active pursuit of social justice, the advancement of the human condition and a commitment to improving health and wellbeing of all people, wherever they are in the world.

This is a protest that aims to ensure that the university is not contributing to the Israeli military bombardment and invasion of Gaza, which has killed many thousands of people. It is understandable that supporters of Israel’s actions may oppose the camp, but this is not evidence of discrimination or intimidation. It is a diverse and inclusive group. For example, during a vigil for the victims of the current invasion, Jewish students took part and led a prayer of remembrance. The students have created a friendly, welcoming space for all who visit.

We see no reason why the students should be removed from the camp.

Signed statement link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YYXQR9yr1b3N9v-bkiVm0bjPLVY5mfq3-Mx1fDtqFFw/edit