UCU Nottingham

February 1, 2024February 1, 2024

Members update 31st Jan: Solidarity with Demonstrators at motion passed, national elections and hustings, Gaza protest, UoN finances, new national project, and Branch president handover

Dear UCU members,

At today’s members meeting, the attached motion [see below] including amendments was passed by a clear majority with only one abstention and one rejection. Our support for demonstrators in the School of Chemistry is testimony to the capacity of our local branch to support every member in every part of the university. Thank you!

Additionally, I would like to draw your attention to the current UCU elections. Information about the related processes and election addresses can be found on this webpage from UCU national. Importantly, hustings for the General Secretary elections are scheduled for tomorrow Thursday 1 February, 12.30-14.00 and for the position of Vice-President on Tuesday 6 February, 16.00-17.00 Over the last three to four years during our disputes over USS and the 4 Fights, we have learned how influential these roles are in determining UCU strategy. Please inform yourselves and make every effort to participate in these elections.

Please remember our local Gaza – Ceasefire Now protest on 7 February, 1 to 2 p.m. on University Park in line with general national UCU policy. Details about the event will be circulated closer to the time, but please put it in your diary already now.

Members will undoubtedly be concerned about the current rolling out of drastic financial cuts. Yet again, financial difficulties are immediately translated into cut-backs. I can assure members that the local committee observes the situation closely and is in regular dialogue with management. It will be important to raise critical questions at the various roadshows, currently underway at UoN. Please consult your local rep, who is involved in coordinating our UCU input. In general, some of you may still remember our Alternative Financial Strategy (AFS) from spring 2021. It may well be time for AFS 2.0.

Moreover, UCU is launching a new national project called The Future of Work in Post-16 Education. Its aim is to shape the future of education so that technology enables the work of staff and students, rather than acting as a barrier. This responds in part to the extended role of technology during the pandemic, and in part to AI developments since then. Online platforms may help members to innovate in the education and support they provide, and can make our lives easier. However, they also hold large amounts of personal data and mediate the intellectual property that members generate. The project will consider the threats and opportunities of technologies used in the sector, and how UCU should support members and branches to respond. Following a launch event this month, the next step is to establish a Working Group. Expressions of interest are sought from UCU members with all levels of knowledge of the technology arriving in our workplaces.

Finally, I have taken over the role of President of the local UCU branch from Howard Stevenson at the beginning of the current spring semester. I would like to thank Howard on behalf of the branch for his outstanding leadership in enormously difficult circumstances. As a result of the 4 Fights dispute and the related Marking and Assessment Boycott, especially August, normally a quiet month, was extremely busy with many local and national meetings. It is ultimately to Howard’s credit that we extracted ourselves from that dispute as best as possible.

In solidarity,

Andreas (on behalf of the local UCU branch)

Text of motion passed:

Motion on Solidarity with Demonstrators at UoN

This branch notes:

That demonstrators in the School of Chemistry had their pay cut at short notice by being moved from salary spine point 23 to point 18;
That there are worrying noises of demonstrators being ‘strong-armed’ into working despite the lower pay and that efforts are underway to bring in replacement labour from other schools;
That demonstrators continue to be employed via Unitemps rather than UoN directly even though they often work regular hours across the academic year;
That demonstrators have collectively organised and are refusing to continue working at the lower pay rate;
That due to a lack of postgraduates to demonstrate, academics in the School of Chemistry have been instructed to “prioritise lab demonstrating over all other tasks, except of course other teaching commitments, critical external activities or critical University committees.” Academics have been asked to cover “two four-hour slots per academic per week”;

This branch believes:

That any form of intimidation of demonstrators is completely out of order;
That pay cuts at short notice during a cost of living crisis are completely unacceptable;
That demonstrators, whose work involves great levels of responsibility for lab safety and often also includes marking of student work, deserve the same hourly pay as PGTAs employed in the delivery of seminars in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, i.e. pay at the level of spine point 23;
That demonstrators should be directly employed by UoN;
That it is unacceptable for (academic) staff to be suddenly roped into a full extra day of work per week.

This branch resolves:

That we support the group of demonstrators, who refuse to work at the lower pay level, with up to £3000 from local branch resources;
That we start a campaign for raising further funds in support of demonstrators in the School of Chemistry;
That we press for direct employment of all demonstrators with UoN in our ongoing negotiations with HR;

January 17, 2024January 17, 2024

University financial situation – message to UCU members

This message was sent to UCU members at the University of Nottingham on 17th January 2024.

Dear UCU member,

On behalf of the branch committee, and somewhat belatedly, can I take this opportunity to send you best wishes for 2024. Unfortunately, it is already clear that the year ahead will be a difficult one for the sector, and at the University of Nottingham.

This morning you will have received an email sent from UEB to all staff that refers to ‘unprecedented financial pressures in the sector’ and the probability of a financial deficit at our university this financial year.

Against this background I am writing to make clear your union branch’s commitment to defend your job, pay and working conditions in the year ahead. Branch strategy is focused on 3 priority areas:

We will engage constructively with university management to address problems where it is demonstrably in the interests of our members to do so. Branch officers are meeting with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer next week, and officers will take every opportunity to represent members’ interests and to seek to ensure that management decisions reflect the priorities of our members.
We will take collective action, up to and including strike action, to defend jobs and resist redundancies (as agreed at our recent branch meeting). This commitment recognises in particular the experience of members on fixed term and precarious contracts who we know from the recent past are particularly vulnerable in these contexts [the union is currently supporting Demonstrators in Chemistry who work on casualised contracts and who recently experienced an imposed and immediate pay cut – please look out for an email later today announcing an extraordinary branch meeting on this issue on 31 January].
We will hold our own management to account for any institution level decisions that serve to exacerbate the sector-wide situation. In the recent past, during the Covid crisis, branch officers worked with branch members who have specialist knowledge, and with an external expert in HE sector finances, to develop a coherent and credible Alternative Financial Strategy (AFS). The branch is already developing an AFS 2.0 that will, as before, offer a viable and sustainable financial model that prioritises the need for a secure and safe environment in which to work and study.

Alongside all of the above, and our response to current problems, the branch committee has a strategic plan for 2024 that focuses on three broad areas – quality of working life, open and democratic governance and equal rights. These plans contain short and longer term objectives, and we are determined that progress in these areas is not be deflected by immediate crises. All members are encouraged to contribute to developing work on these issues and, as with all branch activity, we commit to always being transparent and democratic and to give members every opportunity to shape branch policy and activity.

Let’s keep in touch, let’s work together and let’s look out for each other in 2024.

In solidarity

Howard

December 20, 2023December 20, 2023

Season’s Greetings from UoN UCU – email to members

Sent to members 20th December 2023.

Dear UCU member

On behalf UCU Branch Officers I am writing to thank you for your commitment to the union, locally and nationally through 2023.

It has been a very tough year, with ballot campaigns and industrial action, including the Marking and Assessment Boycott. We have not achieved all that we hoped for, and on some key issues we will have to maintain our campaigns and pressure. But it is important to acknowledge the scale of the victory on USS. In two weeks time every members of USS will be paying lower contributions, and by April we will have our pensions back (with uprating for the lost years). You can see the immediate impact on your contributions here.

Make no mistake, it was our action that has achieved this win. Every member of USS will benefit, but it was our solidarity and financial sacrifice that secured this outcome. Collective action works.

In the year ahead your local branch will be focusing relentlessly on working in our own institution to improve the quality of our working lives – defending jobs, demanding equality and fighting for secure contracts and sustainable workloads. The branch committee has been busy developing a plan to take this work forward next year, and there will be lots of opportunities to be involved in different ways. Watch this space.

Nationally the union will need to consider how its campaigns move forward. Much of this debate will take place through the election process for General Secretary (starting in earnest in the New Year). As with all such developments, locally we will be working to provide members with the maximum opportunity to engage in debates and participate in decision-making.

Finally, as a branch we will continue to play our role in the wider trade union movement – whether that is defending public services in our own community in Nottingham City or standing in solidarity with those elsewhere in the world, for example in Ukraine and Gaza, who currently face unspeakable hardship.

There will be much to do in 2024, and there is much happening now that is a source of great anxiety, but we hope all our members get to enjoy a well earned break over the holiday period and that it will be possible to enjoy a genuine rest in the company of family and friends. Enjoy the time.

With best wishes, and in solidarity,

Howard and UoN UCU branch officers

December 12, 2023December 12, 2023

Motion on Defending Jobs at University of Nottingham – 12th December 2023

The below motion was adopted by the Branch with a strong majority.

This branch notes:

That UCU at UoN again easily reached the ballot threshold of 50% during the most recent, national ballot (local records indicate a turnout in excess of 60%);
That we are well organised locally and therefore ready to defend our conditions at UoN if and when necessary;

This branch believes:

That it is our key task to defend all jobs and working conditions;
That we need to maintain our readiness to take action through the continuing building of our reps network;

This branch resolves:

That any management plans for redundancies will immediately trigger an e-ballot as a first step towards a formal ballot on industrial action.

December 11, 2023December 11, 2023

Motions from Extraordinary General Meeting of the Branch Monday 6th November

Members attending the EGM on 6th November voted to support three motions:

Motion in support of Professor Hakim Adi and the MRes in the History of Africa and African Diaspora.
Motion on the Current Situation in Gaza.
UoN UCU Branch Motion on Academic Freedom and UKRI.

The full text of each motion can be found below.

Motion in support of Professor Hakim Adi and the MRes in the History of Africa and African Diaspora

This branch notes that:

In 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, universities across the UK, including the University of Chichester, pledged to better support Black Studies and Black students and to decolonize the curriculum.
Hakim Adi, Professor of Africa and the African Diaspora, is the first African-British professor of History and is one of only four Black professors of History in the UK and that only 0.3% of History staff are Black.
The MRes in the History of Africa and African Diaspora at University of Chichester is the one of very few post-graduate courses of its type in the country and has recruited students of Black Caribbean, African and African-British heritages.
By making Prof Adi redundant, at least 16 postgraduate students will lose vital supervisory expertise and support.

We recognize that:

Linking Professor Adi’s employment to the financial success of the MRes is individually damaging and a threat to the whole sector.
Dismantling the MRes leaves current post-graduates without expert supervision and support and undermines the future of Black history in particular, and Black studies in general.
The loss of Professor Adi and the MRes is a step backward in commitments to decolonize the curriculum and support Black staff and students.
The particular targeting of the MRes and the impact it will have on Black students is an example of structural racism within the academy.

UCU is committed to campaigning against all compulsory redundancies, to fighting racism and supporting the decolonization of the curriculum. Professor Adi’s threatened redundancy and the closure of the MRes goes against these principles.

We support the demands made by the Black Members’ Standing Committee and call on the University of Chichester to:

Retain Professor Adi in his post as Professor of the History;
Look for viable strategies to maintain the MRes History of Africa and the African Diaspora.

We call on all universities and HEIs in the UK to:

Promote and resource Black history, and support Black students and staff for the benefit of higher education and society as a whole.
Recognise and take initiatives to counter structural racism within higher education.

Motion on the Current Situation in Gaza

We are utterly horrified at the violence that we have seen in recent weeks in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the targeting of civilian life by both Hamas and the Israeli military, and we also condemn instances of Antisemitism and Islamophobia that we have witnessed since the violence unfolded.

This branch notes:

That collective punishment of more than 2 million Palestinians living Gaza is a clear violation of international law.
The complicity of the British government and main opposition party through their unequivocal moral and material support for Israel, its occupation of Palestine and its crimes against humanity.
The attacks in our sector on academic freedom and the right to protest in support of the plight of Palestinian people.
The increase in racism including Islamophobia and Antisemitism in our universities and wider society.
The events of recent days are part of a continuing cycle of violence that has been the result of decades of brutal occupation.
The targeting of civilians by Hamas was and is brutal and unacceptable.

The branch believes:

In the right of occupied and colonised peoples to resist that occupation as is recognised under international law.
Achieving a lasting peace in the region must start with an end to the occupation, a release of hostages, and recognition of the rights of all people.
In maintaining an unambiguous position of solidarity with Palestine. • the right of academics and students to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and to contextualise the unfolding violence.
That these discussions can take place is crucial to academic and intellectual freedom. • that we support any colleague and student who is grieving as a consequence of the current violence in Israel/Palestine.

The branch resolves:

To call upon the British Government and the international community to collectively call for an immediate ceasefire, release of hostages, and de-escalation, by Hamas and Israel, including the lifting of the siege of Gaza.
To call for a suspension of UK political and military support of Israel, which is used to perpetuate war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To affirm in line with the position of the national UCU our support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
To support campaigns of solidarity with Palestinians.
To affirm our institution’s legal and normative commitments to uphold academic freedom.

As a trade union, we are committed to achieving peace and an end to violence and oppression. We send our solidarity to all those affected by these events, especially education staff and students. We know that many will be worrying about loved ones, and to those grieving we send our heartfelt condolences.

UoN UCU Branch Motion on Academic Freedom and UKRI

This branch notes:

There is a current wave of repression and censorship against those expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and their cause.
On 28^thOctober Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, wrote a public letter to UKRI which singled out and named two academic members of the UKRI EDI Advisory Group for their social media posts criticising Israel’s actions in Palestine, and questioned the role of the Advisory Group.
UKRI responded with a letter to Donelan, dated 30^thOctober, in which they announced the suspension of the EDI group, an investigation into Donelan’s claims, and a review of the future of both the EDI group and all other advisory structures within UKRI.

This branch believes;

Michelle Donelan’s letter represents a chilling attempt to silence and intimidate academics speaking out, whether on Palestine and other matters deemed contrary to a narrow, partisan political agenda.
The capitulation by UKRI leadership to political threats from a government minister raises ethical questions about the independence of research and knowledge within UK HE.
The letter, and UKRI’s response to it, undermines and threatens academic freedom.
That the underlying political agenda served by Donelan’s intervention is to undo all the important work on equality, diversity, and inclusion at UKRI.

This branch resolves;

To advise that UoN UCU members in voluntary roles with UKRI resign from their posts and do not accept future invitations to participate.
To advise that UoN UCU members boycott events organised by UKRI and refuse to conduct peer reviews from UKRI grant applications.
To encourage UoN UCU members in professional associations to express their concern collectively to UKRI.
To reaffirm its commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion in UK HE and call on the University of Nottingham to issue a statement to that effect.

Composers’ note: This motion draws on a draft motion circulate to signatories of the UKRI Open Letter regarding the initial response of UKRI to Michelle Donelan’s letter by the Notes from Below organization.